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

How the ATO treats airdrops

The key test is what the airdrop was for, not how established the token is. If you received it in return for the provision of goods or services — or as part of another income-producing activity, or a crypto asset trading business — the AUD market value on the day you receive it is ordinary income, and that value becomes your cost base. If you are not carrying on a business of crypto asset trading and did not receive the tokens as a reward for goods or services, you do not include the market value in your assessable income — this covers windfall, gift and hobby airdrops, however established the token already is. Either way, the first element of the cost base is the market value when received; it is nil only where the tokens had no or negligible value at that time.

Worked example

You promote a new crypto asset platform to your social media followers and receive an airdrop of 500 XYZ tokens worth AUD 200 on the day of receipt as a reward for that promotion. Because the tokens were received in return for services, that AUD 200 is ordinary income for the tax year, and AUD 200 also becomes your cost base. 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. If instead the same 500 tokens had simply landed in your wallet as a windfall — not in return for any service — the AUD 200 would not be assessable on receipt, but the cost base would still be AUD 200, so the later sale would produce the same AUD 150 capital gain.

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 received in return for goods or services (or as part of another income-producing activity or a crypto trading business), 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 windfall, gift or hobby airdrop — nothing assessable at receipt — don't add a staking_income event, and instead enter the parcel's cost base as its market value when received (zero only if it had no or negligible value at that time) so the later disposal is calculated correctly.

Quick single-transaction estimate

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

Frequently asked questions

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