Crypto Tax Calculator
Tax & IncomeTax on your cryptocurrency gains.
Cost, proceeds & rate
Gain & tax breakdown
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale proceeds | $0 |
| Less: cost basis | ($0) |
| Capital gain | $0 |
| Crypto tax (0.0%) | ($0) |
| Net proceeds | $0 |
Insights
- You keep $0 of your $0 gain after tax.
- Tax takes 0.0% of your gain at this rate.
- Remember: every disposal — selling, swapping coin-to-coin, or spending crypto — is a taxable event.
Know what this estimate is based on
- Jurisdiction
- United States unless the calculator explicitly says otherwise
- Rules and time period
- Tax years supported by the selected calculator
- Scope and limitations
- Educational estimate only, not a tax return or filing determination. U.S. statutory-threshold tools use USD. Confirm current law and your facts with the relevant authority or a qualified tax professional.
- Source links checked
- Jul 30, 2026
Built and regression-tested by Smart Tools Lab. It has not been individually reviewed by a licensed financial, tax, or legal professional.
How to use
- 01
Enter your cost basis (what you paid for the crypto) and the proceeds you received when you sold or swapped it.
- 02
Set the capital gains tax rate that applies — short-term holdings are usually taxed higher than long-term ones.
- 03
Open Advanced options to add trading and gas fees, which raise your cost basis, then read the tax, the gain, and your net proceeds with a full breakdown.
Formula
The calculator adds any trading and gas fees to your cost basis, since those costs increase what you are treated as having paid (adjusted cost basis = cost + fees). It subtracts that from your sale proceeds to find the capital gain (proceeds − adjusted cost basis), then multiplies any positive gain by your tax rate to get the crypto tax (gain × rate, never below zero on a loss). Your net proceeds are the sale proceeds minus the tax, and your gain after tax is the gain minus the tax. If proceeds fall below your adjusted basis, the result is a loss, no tax is due, and the loss can usually offset other capital gains.
Example
Suppose you bought crypto for $200,000 and later sold it for $500,000 at a 15% rate. The gain is $500,000 − $200,000 = $300,000, the tax is $300,000 × 15% = $45,000, and your net proceeds are $455,000, leaving a gain after tax of $255,000. Now open Advanced options and add $50,000 of trading and gas fees: your adjusted cost basis rises to $250,000, the gain falls to $250,000, the tax drops to $37,500, and your net proceeds rise to $462,500. The fees you paid to acquire and trade the asset legitimately shrink the taxable gain, which is why keeping a record of them matters. The same logic applies whether you sold the crypto for cash or swapped it into another token — the proceeds are simply the market value of whatever you received in the disposal.
Definitions
- Cost basis
- What you originally paid for the crypto, the starting point for measuring your gain (0 to 1,000,000,000).
- Sale proceeds
- The value you received when you disposed of the crypto — selling, swapping, or spending it (0 to 1,000,000,000).
- Capital gains tax rate
- The rate applied to your gain; short-term disposals are usually taxed as ordinary income, long-term ones at a lower rate (0% to 50%).
- Trading & gas fees
- Exchange commissions and network (gas) fees, which add to your cost basis and reduce the taxable gain (advanced, default 0).
- Adjusted cost basis
- Your cost basis plus fees — the figure subtracted from proceeds to find the gain.
- Capital gain
- Proceeds minus adjusted cost basis; a positive figure is a gain, a negative one is a loss.
- Crypto tax
- The headline result: tax on a positive gain, equal to the gain times your rate.
- Net proceeds
- What you keep from the sale after tax: sale proceeds minus the crypto tax.
Good to know
Why crypto is taxed as property
In most tax systems, cryptocurrency is not treated as money but as property — closer to a stock or a piece of real estate than to the cash in your wallet. That single classification drives almost everything about how it is taxed. Because it is property, you do not owe tax simply for holding it or watching its price rise; tax is triggered only when you dispose of it, and what you owe is based on the change in value between when you acquired it and when you let it go. It also means each unit of crypto carries its own cost basis and holding period, just like individual lots of shares. The practical consequence is that crypto taxation borrows the whole machinery of capital gains: basis, proceeds, gains, losses, and holding periods. The Capital Gains Tax calculator handles the same logic for stocks and other assets, but crypto adds wrinkles — frequent trading, coin-to-coin swaps, and on-chain income — that make careful tracking far more demanding than for a simple share sale. Because the property classification is the root of so much of the complexity, it is worth internalising early: if you would not expect to owe tax for an action with a share of stock, you usually will not for crypto either, and where stock would trigger tax, crypto almost always does too.
Every disposal is a taxable event
The most surprising thing for newcomers is how often crypto creates a taxable event. A disposal is not just selling for cash. Trading one coin for another is a disposal of the first coin. Spending crypto to buy goods or services is a disposal. Even converting between a token and a stablecoin can count. Each of these realises a gain or loss measured against your basis in whatever you gave up, regardless of whether any traditional currency ever touched your bank account. For an active trader or someone who pays for things in crypto, that can mean dozens or hundreds of small taxable events across a year, each needing its own basis and proceeds. This is very different from a buy-and-hold stock investor who triggers tax only on an occasional sale. The lesson is to treat every move of crypto as potentially reportable, and to record the date, value, and basis at each step rather than reconstructing it under pressure at tax time.
Cost basis and tracking across wallets
Knowing your cost basis is the foundation of an accurate crypto tax figure, and it is also where most people struggle. Basis is what you paid for a coin, including the fees to acquire it, and it must follow that coin as it moves between exchanges, hot wallets, and cold storage. When you sell only part of a holding bought at different times and prices, you need a method to decide which units you sold — commonly first-in-first-out (FIFO), or specific identification if your records are detailed enough to pick particular lots. Different methods can produce very different gains, so consistency matters. The challenge multiplies when you use several platforms, because no single exchange sees your whole history; transfers in and out look like deposits and withdrawals with no basis attached. Reliable records, exported transaction histories, or dedicated crypto-tax software are close to essential. Adding your trading and gas fees in this calculator is a small but real example of basis adjustment that reduces the taxable gain.
Short-term vs long-term holdings
Just as with other assets, how long you hold a coin before disposing of it often determines the rate you pay. In many systems, crypto held for a short period — frequently a year or less — is taxed at higher ordinary-income rates, while crypto held beyond the long-term threshold qualifies for a lower preferential rate. Because crypto markets are so volatile and trading is so easy, it is common to rack up short-term gains by reacting to price swings, which can quietly push the tax bill far above what a patient holder would pay. The rate field in this calculator is deliberately yours to set, so you can model the same gain at a short-term and a long-term rate and see the difference in tax. For larger positions, the holding-period decision — sell now or wait to cross the long-term line — can be worth more than the trade itself, especially once you compare the after-tax proceeds rather than the headline gain.
Crypto income: staking, mining, and airdrops
Not all crypto tax is capital gains. Many on-chain activities generate income that is taxed when you receive it, at its fair value at that moment, as ordinary income rather than as a gain. Staking rewards, mining proceeds, lending interest, and airdropped tokens typically fall into this category. The amount you recognise as income then becomes the cost basis of those new coins, so when you later sell or swap them, you are taxed only on the change in value since you received them — avoiding double taxation, but requiring two separate records: the income at receipt and the later gain or loss. This split trips up many crypto users, who remember the eventual sale but forget the income event that preceded it. If you earn crypto through these activities, treat each receipt as both a taxable income event and the start of a new holding with its own basis, and keep this calculator for the disposal side once you sell.
Losses, wash sales, and harvesting
Crypto's volatility cuts both ways, and losses are a genuine tax asset. When you dispose of crypto below your basis, you realise a capital loss that can usually offset other capital gains — crypto or otherwise — and sometimes a limited amount of ordinary income, with any excess carried forward. Deliberately selling losing positions to bank those losses is known as tax-loss harvesting. Crypto has historically offered an extra edge here: in some jurisdictions the wash-sale rule that blocks stock investors from rebuying an identical asset within a set window does not yet apply to crypto, so a holder could sell at a loss and buy back immediately, keeping their position while still claiming the loss. That gap is under active review in many places and may close, so it should never be relied on blindly. When this calculator shows a loss, treat it as a potential offset to plan around, and confirm the current rules in your jurisdiction before acting on a harvesting strategy.
DeFi, NFTs, and staying compliant
The frontier of crypto tax is decentralised finance and NFTs, where ordinary rules stretch to cover transactions that traditional tax law never imagined. Providing liquidity to a pool, wrapping or bridging tokens, borrowing against collateral, and trading NFTs can each trigger gains, losses, or income, and guidance is often unsettled or inconsistent across countries. NFTs may even be treated as collectibles in some systems, carrying a higher rate. The safest stance is to assume that any transaction changing what you hold is potentially reportable, and to document it. Compliance is also tightening: exchanges increasingly report user activity to tax authorities, and blockchains are public and permanent, so unreported gains are easier to detect than many assume. Use this calculator to estimate the tax on individual disposals, lean on the Tax calculator to fold crypto gains into your wider income picture, and consider professional advice or specialised software once your activity grows beyond a handful of simple trades.
Frequently asked questions
Is swapping one coin for another taxable?
Yes, in most jurisdictions. Trading one cryptocurrency for another is treated as disposing of the first coin, so any gain on it is taxable even though you never converted to cash. Each swap is its own taxable event with its own gain or loss to track.
Do I owe tax if I only spent crypto?
Usually yes. Spending crypto on goods or services counts as disposing of it, so you realise a gain or loss based on its value when you spend it versus what you paid. Small purchases can therefore each create a tiny taxable event of their own.
How is staking or mining taxed?
Income events like staking rewards, mining, airdrops, and interest are typically taxed as ordinary income at their value when you receive them. That value then becomes your cost basis, so a later sale is taxed only on the change from there.
Do wash-sale rules apply to crypto?
In some jurisdictions crypto is not yet covered by the wash-sale rules that apply to stocks, which can let you sell at a loss and rebuy immediately to harvest the loss. The rules are evolving fast, so check your local treatment before relying on it.
What is the difference between short and long-term crypto gains?
Holding period usually sets the rate. Crypto held a short time is generally taxed at higher ordinary-income rates, while longer holdings often qualify for a lower long-term rate. Set the rate field to whichever applies to your holding period.
How do I track my cost basis across wallets?
This is the hard part of crypto tax. Basis must follow your coins across exchanges and wallets, using a method such as FIFO or specific identification. Good records or portfolio software are essential, since every disposal needs its matching basis to compute the gain.