Crypto tax in NZ: when IRD taxes your cryptoasset gains

New Zealand has no special crypto tax, but crypto gains are often taxable. Inland Revenue treats cryptoassets as property, and says that "in most cases" the amounts you get from selling, trading or exchanging them are taxable. The key test is your main purpose when you acquired the crypto: if it was to sell or exchange it, the profit is income, however long you hold it. Profit is taxed at your ordinary marginal rate, and swapping one coin for another counts as a disposal. Rules checked 10 November 2026.

How Inland Revenue treats crypto

This guide is general information, not tax advice. Crypto has many edge cases, from staking to airdrops to lost keys, so check Inland Revenue's cryptoasset pages or talk to an adviser about your own position.

Inland Revenue says cryptoassets "are treated as a form of property for tax purposes", and that the treatment depends on their characteristics and how you use them. It does not treat them as currency. That means the same question applies as for other property: did you acquire it in a way that makes the profit income?

A disposal is wider than a sale for dollars. Inland Revenue lists:

• selling crypto for money
• exchanging one cryptoasset for another
• paying for goods or services with crypto
• giving crypto away

Moving crypto between wallets, addresses or accounts that all belong to you is not a disposal.

Unrealised gains are not taxed. If your coins rise in value but you have not disposed of them, there is nothing to return yet. Inland Revenue's calculation page says unrealised gains and losses on assets you still hold are neither taxable nor deductible.

The main purpose test

Inland Revenue's page on acquiring cryptoassets to sell or exchange sets out the test. In short:

• You may have more than one purpose, but "it is your main purpose that matters".
• Purpose is tested when you acquire the crypto, for example when you buy or mine it. If it changes later, that does not matter.
• How long you plan to hold does not matter. Your main purpose can still be to sell or exchange, "even if it takes a few years".

Inland Revenue's view is that most crypto is bought to be sold or exchanged eventually. Its page says reasons such as using crypto as "a store of value outside the monetary system" usually still involve a purpose of eventually selling or exchanging. In its Leena example, calling a purchase a long-term investment did not mean it was not bought to dispose of.

An income stream, such as staking rewards, is one factor. Inland Revenue says having one does not on its own mean you did not buy to sell, and if you expect to make more from selling than from the income, your dominant purpose will most likely be disposal. In its Selina example, a stablecoin bought mainly for a 12% staking return was not taxed on the profit from that first holding, though the rewards themselves were income.

Evidence

"Just saying why you got your cryptoassets is not enough." If you make a profit and say you did not buy to sell, Inland Revenue says you need "clear and compelling evidence". It looks at your stated purpose, the type of asset, research you did beforehand, how long you held it compared with how you used it for income, and the number of and reasons for your purchases and sales.

Compare this with land. For land, any firm purpose of disposal is enough, as our intention test guide explains. For crypto, as for shares, Inland Revenue frames it as your main purpose. In practice, its guidance means most people who buy crypto hoping it rises should expect the gain to be taxable.

Other ways crypto income is taxed

Even without a purpose of sale, Inland Revenue says crypto profits can be taxable if you:

• are in the business of trading crypto, in which case your holdings can be trading stock, valued at cost at year end
• acquire crypto as part of a profit-making scheme

Separately, crypto you receive can be income when you get it. Inland Revenue's examples show staking and lending rewards taxed when received, and then taxed again on any profit when sold if the sale is taxable (the Chen and Pete examples). Mining, airdrops and hard forks each have their own Inland Revenue page.

Working out the gain

Inland Revenue's formula for each disposal is simple:

Income = sale price less purchase cost less transaction fees

All amounts go into your return in New Zealand dollars. Where you bought the same coin at different times, Inland Revenue lists two ways to work out the cost of what you sold: first in, first out (FIFO) and weighted average cost. Its page does not go further on choosing or switching between them, so if you are unsure which to use, ask an adviser before you file.

Here is a worked example. Say you bought half a unit of a coin for $15,000 plus a $150 fee, and later another half unit for $25,000 plus a $250 fee. You then sold half a unit for $30,000 and paid a $300 fee, so you received $29,700.

The method changes when the income falls, not the total over the life of the holding: the half unit you still hold carries a cost of $25,250 under FIFO and $20,200 under the average method.

How the gain is taxed

There is no separate crypto rate. Taxable crypto income is added to your other income and taxed at your marginal rate. You report it in an IR3 return; Inland Revenue says you need to file one when you have taxable income from a cryptoasset activity.

Continuing the example, with $70,000 of other income in 2026/27 and this site's engine:

Because the gain sits on top of your other income, part of it can be taxed at a higher rate than the rest. Our guide to how gains are taxed explains the brackets, using property as the example; the method is the same for crypto.

Losses

Inland Revenue's calculation page says losses from disposals "can offset other cryptoasset profits, and then other income". In its Sione example, crypto bought for the purpose of disposal was sold at a loss and the loss could be claimed. The logic runs both ways: the same test that makes a gain taxable is what makes a loss deductible. If your crypto was not bought to sell, a gain is not income and a loss is not deductible.

Say that in the same year you made a taxable $12,000 profit on one coin and a deductible $5,000 loss on another, with $70,000 of other income:

Other points from Inland Revenue's pages:

• Interest on money borrowed to buy crypto is deductible only if any profit on selling it is taxable.
• Stolen crypto has its own Inland Revenue pages on whether a deduction is available.

Crypto losses are different from land losses. A bright-line loss is ring-fenced to land income, as our ring-fenced losses guide explains, while Inland Revenue says a crypto disposal loss can reach other income once it has offset crypto profits.

Records to keep

Inland Revenue's record keeping page asks you to keep:

• the type of each cryptoasset and the date of each transaction
• whether each transaction was a receipt or a disposal
• the number of units and their value in New Zealand dollars
• the total units of each cryptoasset held at the start and end of the year
• exchange records and bank statements
• wallet addresses

Keep them for at least 7 years, even if you no longer hold any crypto. Exchanges close and change their export formats, so download your full history regularly rather than relying on getting it later. Records of why you bought, such as notes or research at the time, are also your evidence on the purpose test.

ACT's proposed 12-month exemption (a proposal, not law)

Not law. Nothing in this section changes how crypto is taxed today.

Before the 2026 election, ACT published a digital economy policy (27 August 2026). As reported by Simpson Grierson and interest.co.nz, it proposes a bright-line style test under which gains on qualifying personal digital assets held for at least 12 months would be tax free, plus an exemption for low-value purchases made with digital assets. Reports say traders and businesses would stay under the existing rules. We have not read ACT's policy document directly, so treat these details as reported.

The election on 7 November 2026 produced preliminary results only. Official results are due 27 November 2026, and no government has been formed. Whether any party's crypto proposal becomes law depends on what the next government agrees and passes. Our election 2026 page tracks the parties' tax positions, and our guide to Labour's capital gains tax proposal covers the property side.

To see how the current rules apply to your own crypto, our Is my gain taxable? checker covers crypto as well as property and shares.

Questions people ask

Is crypto taxed if I hold it for more than a year?

Under current law, yes, if your main purpose when you acquired it was to sell or exchange it. Inland Revenue says the holding period does not matter. ACT's 12-month exemption is a proposal, not law.

Is swapping one coin for another taxable?

It is a disposal. If the coin you gave up was acquired mainly to sell or exchange, the profit on the swap is taxable, measured in New Zealand dollars.

Can I claim a crypto loss?

If the crypto was acquired for the purpose of disposal, Inland Revenue says a loss on disposal can offset other crypto profits and then other income. Unrealised losses on coins you still hold cannot be claimed.

What rate is crypto taxed at?

Your ordinary marginal rate. The gain is added to your other income for the year; there is no separate crypto or capital gains rate.