Crypto Tax Return Australia: How to Report Crypto in myTax (2026)
The short version: crypto doesn’t get one tidy box on your Australian tax return. A crypto tax return Australia investors lodge through myTax splits the activity three ways. Your capital gains go in the Capital Gains Tax section, your crypto income (staking, airdrops, interest) goes under “Other income,” and you must answer the CGT-event question even if you made a loss. Self-lodgers have until 31 October 2026 for the 2025-26 year. Get the split wrong and you’ll either overpay or trigger a mismatch against the data the ATO already holds.
Key takeaways
- Crypto capital gains go in the Capital Gains Tax section of myTax; crypto income goes under “Other income.”
- Answer “yes” to the CGT-event question even if your net result is a loss (losses carry forward and are worth claiming).
- Self-lodge deadline: 31 October 2026 for FY2025-26. A registered tax agent can extend it, often into 2027.
- You report a single net capital gain figure, but you must keep the working behind it for five years.
Do You Even Need to Report Crypto on Your Tax Return?
If you disposed of any crypto during the financial year, yes. A disposal means selling for AUD, swapping one coin for another, spending it, or gifting it. Each is a CGT event, and you report the result even if you lost money, because capital losses carry forward and offset future gains.
What if you only bought and held? Then there’s no CGT event on the gains side. But here’s the catch that snares people: if you earned staking rewards, airdrops, or crypto interest, that’s assessable income the moment you receive it, whether or not you ever sold. So “I didn’t sell anything” doesn’t always mean “I have nothing to declare.”
(Quick gut check: did crypto leave your control, or did new crypto land in your wallet as a reward? Either one usually means something to report.)
Where Does Crypto Go on an Australian Tax Return?
This is the part people get wrong, so here it is in one table.
| What you did | Where it goes in myTax | How it’s taxed |
|---|---|---|
| Sold, swapped, spent or gifted crypto | Capital gains or losses section | Net capital gain (after 50% discount) at your marginal rate |
| Staking rewards / airdrops / crypto interest | Other income | Ordinary income at AUD value on receipt |
| Crypto received as salary or for a business | Business / personal services income | Ordinary income |
| Bought and held only | Nothing to report (gains side) | Not taxed until you dispose |
How to Report Crypto Capital Gains in myTax: Step by Step
Lodging yourself through myGov? Here’s the flow.
- Gather your data. Export full transaction history from every exchange and wallet you used. You need dates, AUD values, and what each transaction was. Crypto tax software (Koinly and similar) can aggregate this and produce a CGT report.
- Calculate your net position. Work out the gain or loss on each disposal (proceeds minus cost basis), apply the 50% discount to eligible pre-1 July 2027 long-term investor gains, flag later gains for the Tax Reform No. 1 CGT calculation, then net everything together.
- Start your return in myTax via myGov. In the personalisation step, tick that you had capital gains or losses. This unlocks the CGT section.
- Answer the CGT-event question “yes.”
- Enter your capital gains. Enter your total current-year capital gains, total capital losses, and net capital gain after any discount, reform adjustment, and carried-forward losses.
- Declare crypto income separately under “Other income” at its AUD value on the day you received it.
- Review and lodge, then keep your working papers.
Worked example. Mia had $30,000 of capital gains, $5,000 of capital losses, and half her gains qualified for the 50% discount. She applies the $5,000 loss first, leaving $25,000, then discounts the eligible portion. Her net capital gain entered in myTax is well below the headline $30,000. myTax does the arithmetic once she feeds it the right inputs, but it can’t tell whether her cost basis is right. That part is on her.
Where Does Staking and Airdrop Income Go?
Not in the capital gains section. Staking rewards, airdrops, referral bonuses, and crypto interest are ordinary income, valued in AUD at the moment you receive them. They go under “Other income” with a description like “crypto staking rewards.”
Then there’s a second event most people forget: when you later sell those rewards, that’s a separate CGT event, and the value you already declared as income becomes your cost base. So the same coins can be taxed twice in different ways (income on receipt, capital gains on disposal), though the income value reduces the later gain so you’re not taxed twice on the same dollars. We cover this fully in the staking and DeFi tax guide.
Can You Do Your Own Crypto Tax in Australia?
Yes. If your situation is simple (one exchange, a handful of buys and sells, no DeFi), it’s genuinely doable in an afternoon with a software export.
It stops being simple fast. Multiple exchanges, wallet-to-wallet transfers, DeFi positions, NFTs, bridging across chains, missing price data for obscure tokens, failed transactions that still cost gas: this is where DIY falls apart and where cost-basis errors creep in. And cost-basis errors are exactly what the ATO’s data-matching program is built to catch. The point isn’t that you can’t DIY; it’s knowing where your situation crosses from “myTax in an afternoon” to “get a specialist.”
When Is the Crypto Tax Return Australia Deadline?
For the 2025-26 financial year (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026):
- Self-lodging via myTax: due 31 October 2026.
- Using a registered tax agent: the deadline usually extends, often to 15 May 2027, if you’re on the agent’s books before 31 October.
Miss the deadline and failure-to-lodge penalties climb the longer you wait. If you’ve got unreported crypto from prior years, lodging or amending through a tax agent (a voluntary disclosure) almost always beats waiting for the ATO to find the mismatch. For the full set of ATO rules behind all this, see our main guide: Crypto Tax Australia: ATO Rules & CGT, and for the conversion-side help, the crypto accountant Australia hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I report crypto on my Australian tax return?
Capital gains and losses from disposals go in the Capital Gains Tax section of myTax. Income from staking, airdrops, and crypto interest goes under “Other income.” You tick the capital gains option when personalising your return to unlock the CGT section.
How do I report crypto on myTax?
Start your return in myGov, select that you had capital gains or losses, answer “yes” to the CGT-event question, then enter your total capital gains, total capital losses, and net capital gain after the 50% discount and any carried-forward losses. Declare staking and airdrop income separately under Other income.
Do I have to report crypto if I made a loss?
Yes, and you’ll want to. Reporting a capital loss lets you carry it forward to offset future capital gains. Unused capital losses carry forward indefinitely.
Do I report crypto if I didn’t sell anything?
If you only bought and held, there’s no CGT event to report. But if you received staking rewards, airdrops, or crypto interest, that’s assessable income you must declare even without selling.
Can I lodge my own crypto tax in Australia?
Yes, through myTax. It’s manageable for simple portfolios with a software-generated CGT report. For multi-exchange, DeFi, or NFT activity, the cost-basis reconciliation gets complex enough that a specialist usually pays for itself.
When is the crypto tax return due in Australia?
31 October 2026 if you lodge yourself for FY2025-26. A registered tax agent can typically extend the deadline into 2027 if you’re registered with them before 31 October.
Is there a minimum threshold before I have to report crypto gains?
No. Australia has no minimum threshold for reporting crypto capital gains. The ATO expects every disposal declared, even small ones. The $10,000 personal-use-asset exemption only covers crypto you bought and spent directly on personal items, not investments. If you sold, swapped or spent investment crypto, the gain is reportable whatever its size.
Related Australian crypto tax guides
- Best crypto tax accountants in Australia: how the specialist firms compare on price, DeFi coverage, and audit support.
- How to reduce crypto tax legally: the discount, loss harvesting, timing, and structures the ATO accepts.
Disclaimer: The information provided by Crypto Tax Made Easy is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional, financial, accounting, or tax advice. The author is not a registered tax agent. Tax laws change and individual circumstances vary. Consult a qualified registered tax agent about your specific situation before acting.
About the author and reviewer
Founder of Crypto Tax Made Easy. Matt has worked in crypto tax since 2017 and leads CTME content on crypto reconciliation, DeFi, cost basis, and tax software cleanup.
Australian tax reviewer for CTME content with ATO implications. A member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a registered tax agent, Dustin reviews Australian crypto tax treatment, CGT, SMSF, and ATO data matching content.