Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
To account for cryptocurrency in Canada, you work out a gain or loss every time you dispose of it, convert the amounts to Canadian dollars, and report the result either as a capital gain or as business income. Selling for dollars counts. So does swapping one coin for another, and so does paying for something with crypto.
Which crypto moves trigger tax?
The CRA calls these dispositions. Trading or exchanging crypto for government-issued currency or for another crypto-asset is one. Paying a vendor with crypto is another, and it’s treated as a barter transaction. Buying and holding isn’t taxed by itself.
That swap between two coins surprises people. You never saw a dollar, but the CRA still treats it as a sale at that day’s value. Say you paid $2,000 for a coin and later swap it for another coin when it’s worth $3,500. You’ve made a $1,500 gain on paper, half of it ($750) is taxable if it’s a capital gain, and the new coin’s cost is now $3,500. The CRA also lists rewards such as mining or staking, gifts, donations and gambling among the activities where you need to value the crypto for tax. We’re not going into those here, because the pages we read only point to separate guidance.
Is it a capital gain or business income?
| Capital gain | Business income | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical pattern | Occasional sales, longer holding | Frequent buying and selling, short holding, time and skill put in |
| What’s taxed | Half of the gain (the CRA’s page says 50%) | The full profit |
| Losses | Half is deductible, only against taxable capital gains | Treated as a business loss |
The CRA looks at your conduct. Frequency of trades, how long you hold, how much time and knowledge you put in and whether you operate like a trader all count. Nobody has a magic number of trades. If your pattern looks like a business, the full profit is income.
On losses: unused capital losses can go back 3 years or forward with no end date, but only against capital gains. Wins and losses in different years can be matched up that way.
How do you account for cryptocurrency gains on a sale?
Gain equals what you received (in Canadian dollars) minus your adjusted cost base and any costs of selling. The adjusted cost base starts with what you paid plus acquisition costs. Convert each transaction at its own date, not at today’s price. Fees matter here, since they’re part of the cost side.
Here’s one. You bought crypto for $10,000 and sold it for $18,000. The gain is $8,000 and $4,000 is added to income. Using the capital gains tax calculator with $80,000 of other income in Ontario, the extra tax is $1,186, about 14.8% of the gain, leaving you $6,814. In Alberta the same sale shows $1,220. Your own number moves with your other income, so run it with yours.
The 50% share is what the CRA crypto page states. The 2026 inclusion rate isn’t printed on a CRA page we opened for this calculation, so treat 50% as the current figure and check before you file. (The proposed increase to two thirds was cancelled by the Prime Minister’s release of 21 March 2025.)
What if your crypto lost value?
A drop on paper means nothing to the taxman until you dispose of the coins. Once you sell or swap at a loss, that loss is real for tax purposes, and half of it can be used against taxable capital gains, which is handy if you had a good year elsewhere, say from selling shares. It won’t touch your salary. If you never sell, there’s no loss to claim.
What records should you keep?
The CRA expects proper books and records for every transaction, with the value in Canadian dollars. Practically, that means exchange statements and wallet addresses, plus a running list with the date, what you gave up, what you got, and the dollar value. Buy and sell history from one exchange won’t cover transfers between wallets, so save those too.
Start the list now if you haven’t. Rebuilding it from an old export is slow. A spreadsheet with one row per transaction and a column for the Canadian dollar value on that day is plenty for most people.
Mistakes that cause the most trouble
Skipping the coin-for-coin swaps is the big one. The next is using the exchange’s summary as gospel when it’s missing your transfers or fees. Another is assuming a loss on crypto offsets salary. It doesn’t. The CRA says capital losses apply only to taxable capital gains.
And a trader who reports half the profit when the CRA sees a business has a real difference to explain. If you trade often, run your numbers through the self-employed tax calculator as well, since business income also brings CPP. To see how a gain stacks on your pay, try the income tax calculator. Foreign reporting rules can apply if you hold crypto on a foreign platform. We couldn’t confirm the details, so read the CRA guide.
Sources, and how we checked them
The disposition rules, the capital gain versus business income tests, the loss treatment and the record keeping duty come from the CRA’s page on crypto-assets and your tax obligations and the guide pages linked from it. The tax figures in the example come from our calculator on 2026 federal and provincial data. We didn’t review mining, staking or airdrop income in detail, or the rules for GST/HST on crypto. This site isn’t connected to the Canada Revenue Agency or any government.
Frequently asked questions
Is swapping one crypto for another taxable?
Yes. The CRA lists trading or exchanging crypto for another crypto-asset as a disposition.
Is crypto a capital gain or business income?
It depends on your pattern. Frequent trading, short holding and operating like a trader point toward business income, taxed in full.
How much of a crypto gain is taxed?
The CRA crypto page says half of a capital gain is taxable. We couldn't confirm the 2026 rate on a page we opened, so check before you file.
Can a crypto loss reduce my salary tax?
No. The CRA says capital losses can be deducted only against taxable capital gains, with a carry back of 3 years and carry forward without limit.
Do I need to convert to Canadian dollars?
Yes. Transactions need to be valued in Canadian dollars for reporting.
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