This week's top cryptocurrency enquiries (12 to 19 January 2018)

[#1]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sending us all your cryptocurrency enquiries! We're reviewing all of your questions and working with specialist teams in the ATO to get the answers you're looking for.

Based on your posts and comments, the top enquiries this week are (drum roll please):

1. What does 'personal use' mean, and how does it apply?
2. Lots of people switch between cryptocurrencies to get a better return. Is this a taxable event, or do I just have to pay tax when I convert the currency to AUD?
3. How do I track transactions when I have so many? What kind of records do I need to keep? What happens if the agency I use doesn't keep the records you want?
4. What does the ATO consider to be 'investment'? Am I entitled to tax deductions if I'm an investor?
5. What does the ATO consider to be 'trading'? Am I a trader if I make a lot of transactions?

We're working through your enquiries, but due to the volume of questions we're receiving it's going to take longer than usual to get back to you. Keep asking, though - your questions and ideas help us develop content and knowledge bases to help other people out!

[#2]

Thanks for your info so far...

Can you please also answer the following;

- I got scammed and lost a lot of crypto funds, is this counted as a capital loss?

- I have made over a thousand transfers "crypto to crypto" in the past year. I didn't know that there was a requirement to keep track of all of these transfers.  Most of the transfers were moving crypto around and not actually trading. I was planning on just going off the withdrawals from my bank account & deposits from the BTC merchant back in there. From this info I was going to work out the duration of investment via deposit / withdrawal from bank account dates. This is the only possible way that I can see myself being able to work it out. Is this suffice?

- (Please don't take this question as a joke, I am not trying to rub you guys up the wrong way...) If I purchased 10 bitcoins for $10K and within the year sold 10 bitcoins for 20K, can you prove to me that the value of each bitcoin actually rose? I believe that my bitcoin held its value, and the value of the AUD dropped. 

Regards

Crypto curious

[#3]

I have over 100 clients active in Cryptocurrency investment I would welcome clarification on many of these points. The $10,000 PUA is causing huge amounts of confusion for people. As is the crypto to crypto event by my understanding of CGT these should be taxable events but I have had clients told different by the ATO call centres. 

[#4]

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@AmandaE wrote:

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sending us all your cryptocurrency enquiries! We're reviewing all of your questions and working with specialist teams in the ATO to get the answers you're looking for.

Based on your posts and comments, the top enquiries this week are (drum roll please):

1. What does 'personal use' mean, and how does it apply?
2. Lots of people switch between cryptocurrencies to get a better return. MyGiftCardSite Is this a taxable event, or do I just have to pay tax when I convert the currency to AUD?
3. How do I track transactions when I have so many? What kind of records do I need to keep? What happens if the agency I use doesn't keep the records you want?
4. What does the ATO consider to be 'investment'? Am I entitled to tax deductions if I'm an investor?
5. What does the ATO consider to be 'trading'? Am I a trader if I make a lot of transactions?

We're working through your enquiries, but due to the volume of questions we're receiving it's going to take longer than usual to get back to you. Keep asking, though - your questions and ideas help us develop content and knowledge bases to help other people out!

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Most of the transfers were moving crypto around and not actually trading. I was planning on just going off the withdrawals from my bank account & deposits from the BTC merchant back in there. From this info I was going to work out the duration of investment via deposit / withdrawal from bank account dates.