Taxable Income Streams

Where you derive a regular income from a crypto asset or service, the pesky taxman may also want to know about it. Here are some of the most obvious, and again, this will vary by country.

Trading

If you are trading to the extent that it constitutes a source of income, then you may be expected to pay income tax. You’ll need to look into the local rules around what constitutes hobby trading vs trading as a living..

Mining

If you are generating income from mining, you may be liable for tax. This should be easier if you are part of a Mining Pool, as you should have access to a dashboard of exportable data. 

If you’ve been taking the DIY approach, you’ll need to do more leg work setting off expenses against revenue. If and when you sell the proceeds – assuming they are paid in crypto – you’ll also need to record those for Capital Gains.

Staking/Interest

Any income generated from staking or interest bearing services may be liable for tax in the same way that any interest earned on your regular fiat bank account is often taxable.

This might extend to tokens earned from DEFI which may be initially considered as an income and if later disposed of, liable for Capital Gains.

Being paid in crypto

Any work you do that is paid in crypto will likely be treated as income and subject to tax. This may be complicated if paid in tokens that are yet to have any value. There will likely be a category for that. In the UK it is considered ‘money’s worth’ but this will vary around the world.

As above for Forks, take a sensible approach to the value of tokens received – for example by comparing to that of a similar token’s price at listing – and be consistent.

If the tokens do eventually have real value and you sell them, you’ll probably be liable for Capital Gains tax.