Crypto tax FAQ: your questions answered

CryptaTax is a crypto tax tool that rebuilds your full transaction history from your exchanges and on-chain wallets, categorises every transaction, applies your country's rules, and produces your gains, income, and a report you can file or hand to your accountant. There is also a free calculator for a quick single-disposal estimate without an account.

You connect your exchanges with read-only API keys, add your public wallet addresses, or upload a CSV. CryptaTax imports the history, matches transfers between your own wallets, categorises trades, income and DeFi activity, then applies your country's cost basis method and rules to calculate what you owe.

Not strictly, but it is usually the practical choice. A handful of trades can be reconciled by hand, yet once you have multiple exchanges, on-chain wallets, DeFi activity or hundreds of transactions, matching transfers and applying the right cost basis method manually becomes slow and error-prone. Dedicated software rebuilds the full history and applies your country's rules consistently.

Yes. The free crypto tax calculator gives an instant estimate for a single disposal in your country, with no account needed and nothing leaving your browser. It is an estimate for one sale, not a full return, but it is a quick way to see roughly what a gain would cost you before you build a complete report.

It imports your full history, categorises every transaction, applies your country's cost basis method and rules, and produces your capital gains, income totals, and a filing-ready report. The free calculator gives an instant estimate for a single disposal without an account.

In most countries, yes, but only on the right events. You typically owe tax when you sell, swap, or spend crypto at a gain, or when you receive it as income such as staking, mining, airdrops or payment. Simply buying and holding is not taxable. Whether you owe anything, and how much, depends on your country and your total gains and income for the year.

Usually. Selling crypto for fiat currency is a disposal, and any gain over your cost basis is a capital gain that may be taxable. If you sold at a loss, there is no tax on that disposal, and the loss can often be used to offset other gains.

No. Buying crypto with fiat and holding it is not a taxable event in the vast majority of jurisdictions. Tax is triggered when you dispose of it or earn income from it, not while it simply sits in your wallet, even if its value has risen.

In most countries, yes. Swapping one token for another, for example ETH for USDC, is treated as disposing of the first asset at its market value, which realises a gain or loss, even though you never touched fiat. A few jurisdictions differ, so check your local rules.

In most countries, yes. Paying for goods or services with crypto is a disposal of that crypto: you are treated as selling it at its market value at that moment, which realises a gain or loss against your cost basis, even for a small everyday purchase. This is a big reason casual spending can create a long tail of tiny taxable events to track.

Gain equals proceeds minus cost basis. Proceeds are what you received on disposal in your local currency; cost basis is what the asset cost you, including fees. When you have bought the same coin at different times, a cost basis method such as FIFO, LIFO, HIFO or an average decides which lots are consumed first, and the method your country allows can change the result.

Cost basis is what you paid to acquire a crypto asset, including transaction fees. It is the number your gain or loss is measured against, so an accurate basis is the single most important part of a correct report. Different cost basis methods (FIFO, LIFO, HIFO and averages) consume your lots in a different order and can change the taxable amount.

Usually. Realised capital losses can typically be set against realised capital gains, reducing your net taxable gain, and many countries let you carry unused losses forward to future years. Rules on what a loss can offset, and anti-avoidance rules like wash-sale or bed-and-breakfasting, vary by country.

They apply to different events. Income tax is charged when you receive crypto as earnings such as staking, mining, airdrops or salary, valued on the day you get it. Capital gains tax is charged when you dispose of crypto for more than it cost you. The same coins can attract both over their life: income tax on receipt, then capital gains tax on the later gain.

The core idea is the same: you are taxed on gains when you dispose of an asset. But crypto adds complications shares do not have: crypto-to-crypto swaps are taxable, wallets and DeFi generate far more events, and income from staking or airdrops has no direct equivalent. That volume and variety is why a dedicated crypto tax tool exists rather than a simple spreadsheet.

In most countries staking rewards are taxable as income at their market value on the day you receive or gain control of them. That value also becomes the cost basis of the rewarded coins, so a later sale is measured against it. The exact treatment, income versus capital, and the timing, varies by jurisdiction.

Commonly, an airdrop is taxed as income at the value of the tokens when you receive them, with that value becoming their cost basis. Some jurisdictions treat unsolicited or valueless airdrops differently. Spam and scam airdrops should not inflate your income; CryptaTax flags likely spam so it does not distort your report.

Often, yes, but the treatment is nuanced. Swaps are disposals; rewards and yield are usually income; and entering or exiting a liquidity pool can itself be a disposal in some jurisdictions. Because DeFi generates many small on-chain events, automated tracking across your wallets is what keeps a DeFi report accurate.

Yes. Crypto received as salary, freelance payment, or in exchange for goods and services is generally taxable as income at its market value on the day you receive it. That value becomes the cost basis of the coins, so if you later sell them, any further gain or loss is measured from there.

In most countries an NFT is treated as property, like other crypto. Buying an NFT with crypto is a disposal of that crypto; selling an NFT realises a gain or loss against what you paid; and creator royalties or primary sales can be income. Some jurisdictions apply special rules to collectibles, so the treatment can differ from ordinary tokens.

CryptaTax models the tax treatment for a wide range of jurisdictions, applying each country's own rules for capital gains, income, holding periods and allowances. You can browse crypto tax by country to see how your country is handled, or try the calculator for a quick estimate.

Each country sets its own treatment: which cost basis method is allowed, how long you must hold for a lower rate, what tax-free allowance you get, and whether income like staking is taxed as income or capital. The shared principles are the same, but the numbers and thresholds are national, which is why the country page or the calculator matters for your figures.

Generally the rules of the country where you are tax-resident apply, not where the exchange or blockchain is based. Tax residence has its own definition in each country, and moving mid-year can split your position, so check your local rules if your residence is unclear.

A few jurisdictions do not tax individual crypto capital gains, and some tax long-held holdings differently from short-term trading. It is jurisdiction-specific and can depend on how active you are, so treat it as country-by-country rather than a blanket rule and confirm against your local guidance.

Keep a full history of every acquisition and disposal: dates, amounts, the asset, the value in your local currency, fees, and the counterparty or wallet. You also want records of income events such as staking and airdrops. Connecting your exchanges and wallets to CryptaTax rebuilds this history automatically, including transfers between your own wallets.

Exchanges increasingly report to tax authorities, and frameworks like CARF and the US 1099-DA are expanding that reporting. Unreported gains can lead to back taxes, interest and penalties. Reporting accurately, even when little or no tax is due, is far cheaper than a later correction.

No. Transferring crypto between wallets or accounts you own is not a disposal; you still own the same asset, so no gain or loss is realised. The catch is record-keeping: a transfer can look like a disposal from one exchange and an acquisition on another. CryptaTax matches self-transfers across your connected wallets so they do not show up as phantom sales.

Usually yes. Even when no tax is due, most tax authorities expect you to report disposals, and reporting a loss is how you claim it to offset future or current gains. Skipping it can mean forfeiting a valuable deduction and leaving a gap that does not match the data exchanges report about you.

It depends on your country. Some treat gifting crypto as a disposal at market value, realising a gain for the giver, while others do not tax gifts below certain thresholds; donations to registered charities may be relieved. Receiving a gift can also carry its own basis rules. Because this varies widely, check your local rules or an adviser.

There is no gain to tax on assets you lost, and in some jurisdictions a loss of this kind can be claimed to offset gains, but the rules are strict and often require evidence, and many countries do not allow it at all. Treatment of theft and scams is one of the most jurisdiction-specific areas, so document everything and check locally.

Exchange connections use read-only API keys, so CryptaTax can read your transaction history but cannot trade or withdraw. Wallet addresses you add are public information used only to read on-chain activity. Your data is handled under the privacy policy, and you can request that your account and data be deleted.

No. The exchange API keys you connect are read-only: they grant permission to read your trade and transfer history, not to place trades or make withdrawals. When you create the key on your exchange, you leave trading and withdrawal permissions switched off.

No. The free crypto tax calculator runs entirely in your browser and needs no account. The figures you enter are used to compute an estimate on the spot and are not sent anywhere, which is why it is a quick, private way to sanity-check a gain before you build a full report.

Yes. You can request deletion of your account and associated data. Read-only API keys can also be revoked from your exchange at any time, which immediately cuts off further access regardless of anything stored on our side.

The calculator is free with no account, and the Free plan covers up to 50 transactions a year with FIFO, one wallet and one jurisdiction. You only pay when you need a full tax report beyond those limits, so you can try the product and see your numbers before spending anything.

Pricing is per tax year rather than a subscription, with tiers (Free, Basic, Medium, Professional and Expert) that scale by transaction count, wallets, jurisdictions, cost basis methods and the number of tax returns. You pay only for the tax year you file. Prices are shown in USD and you pay in your local currency at checkout.

There is no recurring subscription. Billing is per tax year: you pay once for the tax year you are filing, and only if you need a report beyond the free limits. If you later need to file another year, you pay for that year separately.

Higher tiers raise the transaction limit and unlock more cost basis methods, more jurisdictions and more tax returns, plus features like filing-ready forms, tax-loss harvesting, cost basis comparison and DeFi mapping. The Free plan is FIFO only with a 50-transaction limit; paid tiers add methods and volume as your activity grows.

Prices are displayed in USD for reference, and you pay in your local currency at checkout. Where VAT or local tax applies, it is added at checkout, so the amount you confirm reflects any applicable tax for your region.