We’re reminding people who invest in cryptoassets to check their tax position now to avoid unexpected tax bills later.
Cryptoassets are treated as property for tax purposes, so income from selling, trading, or exchanging them is generally taxable and must be added to a person’s other income for the year.
We’re running a targeted advertising campaign on social and digital media channels during the 2026 income tax season ─ April to June ─ to help raise customers’ awareness of their tax obligations for cryptoassets. We will match cryptoasset information with tax returns and we will follow up where there are differences.
We’ve already sent the first group of letters to people with known cryptoasset activity, giving them the opportunity to review their tax position and file an Individual income tax return – IR3 if needed.
We now have access to more data to identify people with significant cryptoassets and New Zealand is also implementing the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). This will give us greater visibility of cryptoasset transactions that take place overseas by New Zealand tax residents