Everything you need to know about CRA cryptocurrency tax rules, capital gains calculations, and how to file accurately for the 2025 tax year.
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Get KOHO Free — Code 45ET55JSYAThe Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats cryptocurrency as a commodity — not as currency. This means every time you dispose of crypto, you trigger a taxable event. Whether you're selling Bitcoin, swapping ETH for a stablecoin, or buying a coffee with crypto, you must calculate your capital gain or loss at the time of the transaction.
This classification has been in place since CRA first issued guidance in 2013, and was reaffirmed in subsequent bulletins. For most Canadians holding crypto as an investment, gains and losses are treated as capital gains. If you trade frequently or run a crypto-related business, CRA may classify your income as business income — which is taxed at your full marginal rate rather than benefiting from the 50% (or new 2/3) inclusion rate.
A disposition occurs whenever you give up ownership of crypto. This includes:
Estimate your 2026 crypto tax bill based on CRA rules including the two-tier inclusion rate.
Canada's capital gains inclusion rate determines what portion of your gain is added to your taxable income. For the 2025 tax year (filed in 2026), the following rules apply:
| Scenario | Inclusion Rate | Example on $100 Gain |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals — first $250,000 in gains | 50% | $5,000 added to income |
| Individuals — gains above $250,000 | 66.7% | $6,667 added to income |
| Corporations / Trusts (all gains) | 66.7% | $6,667 added to income |
Budget 2024 proposed increasing the inclusion rate to 2/3 for gains exceeding $250,000 annually for individuals. This change took effect for dispositions occurring on or after June 25, 2024. For most retail crypto investors whose annual gains stay under $250,000, the 50% inclusion rate still applies.
You bought 1 BTC for $20,000 in 2022 and sold it in early 2025 for $85,000. Your capital gain is $65,000. Since this is under $250,000, your inclusion rate is 50%, making $32,500 taxable. At a 43% marginal rate, your estimated tax owing is approximately $13,975.
ACB is the average cost of all units of a particular cryptocurrency you hold, adjusted for every purchase, exchange, or acquisition. Canadian law requires you to use the average cost method — not FIFO or specific identification.
Transaction fees paid when buying crypto increase your ACB. Fees paid when selling crypto reduce your proceeds. This is favourable — it reduces your taxable gain. Trading fees on crypto-to-crypto swaps can be added to the ACB of the new asset received.
Unlike the United States, Canada has no wash-sale rule. This means you can sell a cryptocurrency at a loss to realize the capital loss for tax purposes, and then immediately repurchase the same crypto — without any penalty or adjustment to your ACB.
This is a significant advantage for Canadian crypto investors. You can "tax loss harvest" during market downturns to offset gains realized elsewhere in the year, or to carry losses back up to 3 years or forward indefinitely to offset future gains.
The CRA superficial loss rule does apply to crypto in some circumstances. If you or an "affiliated person" (spouse, corporation you control, etc.) repurchases the same crypto within 30 days before or after the sale and still holds it at the end of that period, the capital loss may be denied. However, repurchasing yourself after a brief pause, or having your spouse not repurchase, avoids this issue. Note: if only you own the crypto and no affiliated person repurchases, you can sell and immediately rebuy without triggering the superficial loss rule.
Capital gains from cryptocurrency are reported on Schedule 3 — Capital Gains (or Losses) of your T1 General personal income tax return. You'll list each disposition separately or summarize by asset category.
You must report:
You do not need to submit detailed transaction logs with your return, but you must keep records for 6 years in case of a CRA audit. This includes exchange statements, wallet histories, and any records of how you calculated your ACB.
Crypto received from mining is generally treated as business income at the fair market value on the date received. When you later sell the mined crypto, only the gain above your cost (the FMV at receipt) is a capital gain. See our crypto mining tax guide for full details.
CRA has indicated staking rewards are likely business income when received, similar to mining. The FMV at receipt becomes your ACB for future dispositions. Read our staking tax guide for nuances.
Providing liquidity, yield farming, and borrowing against crypto all create complex tax events. Each swap in a DeFi protocol is typically a disposition. See our DeFi tax guide for specifics.
Gifting crypto to anyone (including family members other than your spouse) triggers a deemed disposition at FMV. Your estate also faces a deemed disposition on death. Review our gifting guide and estate planning guide.
Manually tracking ACB across dozens of wallets and exchanges is error-prone. Consider dedicated crypto tax tools that integrate with Canadian exchanges:
Always verify the ACB calculations manually for large positions. Software can miss edge cases like lost coins, hard forks, or complex DeFi interactions.