Crypto airdrop tax in Australia: income on receipt, CGT on disposal

How the ATO treats airdrops

The ATO distinguishes between airdrops received because you already hold a particular token (connected airdrops) and airdrops received without any prior holding (unconnected airdrops). Connected airdrops are generally treated as ordinary income. Unconnected airdrops may have a zero cost base, meaning the full sale proceeds become a capital gain when you later dispose of them.

Worked example

You hold ETH and receive an airdrop of 500 XYZ tokens worth AUD 200 on the day of receipt. That AUD 200 is ordinary income for the tax year. Six months later you sell the 500 XYZ tokens for AUD 350. The capital gain is AUD 150 (AUD 350 proceeds minus AUD 200 cost base). No CGT discount applies because you held the tokens for less than 12 months.

Common pitfalls

The biggest challenge with airdrops is valuation — many airdropped tokens have thin liquidity or no clear market price on the receipt date. You need to document the AUD value at the time of receipt as accurately as possible. Forgetting to record the airdrop entirely is another common mistake that can create reconciliation problems at tax time.

Using this estimator for airdrops

In this estimator, you can model an airdrop by entering a staking_income event for the receipt (this creates ordinary income and a new parcel) and then a sell or swap event for any later disposal. The staking_income event type is the closest match for airdrop income treatment in the current version.

Quick single-transaction estimate

Enter a single buy-and-sell scenario to see your estimated CGT impact.

Frequently asked questions

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