If you hold cryptocurrency for your own personal use and you paid $10,000 or less to acquire the digital currency, then there is generally no tax impact when you dispose of the currency.
However, if the cryptocurrency is not held for your personal use and enjoyment then there are some tax issues that can arise.
If the cryptocurrency is held as an investment (i.e. not for personal use and enjoyment) or the cost is more than $10,000 then CGT might apply when you sell or exchange the currency. At the time of writing the price of Bitcoin was just under US$6,000 – up from just under US$1,000 at the beginning of 2017 (and just over $13 at the start of 2013). The taxing point for CGT purposes is normally when a contract is entered into. If there is no contact (which is often the case with digital currencies) the taxing point is when ownership changes.
The line between personal use and investment can be very thin. It will be difficult to argue that you hold cryptocurrency for personal use if you use it irregularly to purchase goods and services and you made a large gain from holding and trading it.
Taxing Bitcoin
Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, are independent and not regulated by any central authority. Until recently, these digital currencies were not treated in the same way as cash for tax purposes in Australia. New legislation passed by Parliament last month seeks to change all of that by removing GST from currency exchanges.
