The CRA considers digital assets the same as any other capital asset, and Canadians need to file their taxes accordingly. There are no special rules. There’s no special section of the Income Tax Act relating to cryptocurrency, said Tristan Bagri, CPA, founder of TSB Chartered Professional Accountant Inc. in Surrey, B.C. He added that the CRA does, however, provide administrative guidance on how to apply general rules to crypto.
Any trade in and out of one cryptocurrency for another is going to be a taxable event, whether you have a gain or whether you have a loss. Calculating earnings and losses can be difficult, however, particularly when assets may be held in different digital wallets and on different exchanges. Experts say it’s important that users keep careful records to ensure that cost basis calculations take into account transactions across different platforms. Frequent traders also need to be aware that they could be considered by the CRA to be trading crypto as a business, said Demetre Vasilounis, a partner at Aird & Berlis in Toronto.
If you’re in the business of trading crypto, then it’s actually considered business income and it’s treated differently for tax purposes, he said. For people who transact somewhat frequently, it’s really important to ensure that you have advisers, or you at least do your research, because this is such an amorphous area and there’s not a lot of guidance. Canada is set to implement a new OECD-agreed reporting framework next year to combat tax avoidance, requiring exchanges to report transactions starting in 2028. The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) will require Canadian cryptocurrency exchanges to report transaction details, including transfers to non-exchange wallet addresses, and users’ personal information.
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