CANBERRA: The Government of Australia published tax guidelines for citizens and businesses using cryptocurrencies to invest, make or receive payments.
Capital gains made by individual investors are taxable, but for businesses using or trading crypto, crypto may be treated as “ordinary assessable income.” Businesses must record the crypto as income according to the asset’s market price at the time payment is received.
Crypto-based businesses, such as exchanges (including ATMs), traders, and crypto-miners, as well as other businesses taking payments in crypto, “may be able to claim deductions, and any capital gains you make are reduced to the extent that they are also ordinary income.”
Investors, “make a capital gain if the capital proceeds from the disposal of the cryptocurrency are more than its cost base. Investors who hold crypto for longer thn 12 months, however, “…may be entitled to the CGT discount.”
Capital losses can be declared and, “…used to reduce capital gains made in the same year or a later year. Net capital losses cannot be offset against other income.”
Citizens making payments in crypto acquired exclusively for those purposes may be exempt from having to track capital gains, “if (the crypto) is acquired and kept or used mainly to purchase items for personal use or consumption.”
The Taxation department cited an example of a consumer who bought crypto and then immediately spent it on concert tickets.
