Do You Pay Tax When You Buy Crypto in Australia?

Buying crypto with Australian dollars is one of the few moves in crypto that the ATO does not tax. Here is why, and the moment that changes.

Buying and holding is not a taxable event

When you use Australian dollars to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum or any other coin, you are simply acquiring an asset. There is no capital gain to report, because you have not disposed of anything. What you have done is set your cost base, which is the price you paid plus most acquisition costs.

Holding that crypto, even as it rises or falls in value, is not taxed either. Those are unrealised gains and losses.

The moment tax applies

Tax enters the picture when you dispose of crypto. That means selling it for dollars, spending it, gifting it, or swapping it for another coin.

That last one catches people out. Buying one crypto with another is a disposal. If you buy ETH using BTC, the ATO treats it as selling your BTC, so a capital gain or loss on that BTC is triggered even though no dollars changed hands.

Why your cost base matters now

The dollar value and date of every purchase feed directly into your future tax bill. Record them accurately today and the disposal calculation later becomes straightforward. Lose that history and you risk overpaying, because a missing cost base can be treated as zero.

Set and forget your records

Rather than logging every buy by hand, Summ syncs your exchanges and wallets, records the cost base of every purchase automatically, and has it ready when you eventually sell.

Get started with Summ.

This article is general information only and does not take your personal circumstances into account. For advice specific to your situation, speak to a registered tax agent.