Ngā rawa whiti-rangi kua whānakohia Claiming losses for stolen cryptoassets

Find out if you can claim a deduction for the loss of your cryptoassets.

Working out your loss

The amount you can claim is the cost that you initially paid to acquire them.

You can only claim the loss if the cryptoasset disposal would have been taxable income if you had sold them.

To support a deduction for lost cryptoassets you'll need to be able to show that:

• your cryptoassets were lost
• they were trading stock, or if they’d not been lost, any income from their sale would have been taxable
• you have not recovered any of them.

You can claim the loss in the income year your cryptoassets were lost.

If your cryptoassets were trading stock, you take them out of your closing stock in the year they were lost. This means that a deduction is available in that year.

Recovered cryptoassets or compensation

Sometimes you may get your cryptoassets back, or get compensation. If this happens, and you have previously claimed a loss, you'll need to include the amount recovered as income. The amount you include as income will generally be limited to the amount you claimed as a loss.