Crypto airdrop tax in Australia: income on receipt, CGT on disposal
Receiving free tokens through an airdrop does not mean they are tax-free. In most cases, the ATO treats airdropped crypto as ordinary income at the market value on the day you receive it. If you later sell or swap those tokens, a separate capital gains tax event can arise.
How the ATO treats airdrops
The key test is whether the token already had an established market when you received it. If it does — which covers most airdrops from live projects — the AUD market value on the day you receive it is ordinary income, and that value becomes your cost base. A genuine initial-allocation airdrop, where the token has no established market yet (the very first distribution of a brand-new token), has no income tax consequence on receipt and a zero cost base, meaning the full sale proceeds become a capital gain only when you later dispose of it.
Worked example
You hold ETH and receive an airdrop of 500 XYZ tokens worth AUD 200 on the day of receipt, and XYZ already has an established market. 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
For an airdrop of a token that already has an established market, you can model it 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. For a genuine initial-allocation airdrop with no established market at the time of receipt, don't add a staking_income event — there is no income to record — and instead treat the parcel's cost base as zero when entering the later disposal.
Quick single-transaction estimate
Enter a single buy-and-sell scenario to see your estimated CGT impact.
Frequently asked questions
Are crypto airdrops taxable in Australia?
Generally yes. Per TD 2014/26 and the ATO's 2022 update, if the airdropped token already has an established market when you receive it, the ATO treats it as ordinary income at the market value on the date of receipt. A genuine initial-allocation airdrop of a brand-new token with no established market yet has no income tax consequence on receipt — it gets a zero cost base instead.
What happens when I sell airdropped crypto?
Selling airdropped crypto is a disposal event. The capital gain or loss is the difference between the sale proceeds and the cost base, which is typically the market value at the time you received the airdrop.
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Tax Accuracy & Sources
General information about crypto tax in Australia for individual investors. Not tax advice.