How to file your tax return using the ATO MyTax Report
NOTE: This guide gives an example of how tax can be reported to the ATO using the CTC ATO MyTax report. Ensure to consult your accountant if you have any questions completing the form, as circumstances may vary depending on your individual situation. For example, if you are running a trading or mining crypto business, or you have recorded crypto taxable transactions in an SMSF, Company, or Trust, this guide will not cover those specific requirements.
Lodge your crypto tax on MyTax
Sign in to your myGov account and ensure you have linked the ATO service to be able to access your myTax. Select Tax → Lodgements → Income tax
Click “Prepare” for your 2023-24 Individual income tax.
Ensure your Contact details and Financial institution details are correct, and head to step 3 - Personalise return page.
On the 3 - Personalise return page, make the following selection in addition to your regular income to ensure that your tax return reflects your crypto activity.
Check your ATO MyTax Report under Capital Gains Summary.
If you have capital gains or losses from crypto activity, select ‘Capital gains or losses that are not from a managed fund distribution’.
Check the Other Income section of the ATO MyTax Report. If you have income listed under this section of the report, select ‘You had other income not listed above (including employee share schemes)’. Staking rewards are considered to be income by the ATO.
If you want to claim the subscription cost of Crypto Tax Calculator, select ‘Gifts, donations, interest, dividends, and the cost of managing your tax affairs’. Alternatively, the subscription cost could be added to ‘Other deductions’.
Once finish the selection, click NEXT and head to 4 - Prepare return page.
How to fill out your capital gains and losses?
There are two options here when it comes to how you will be using the data to report and they depend on whether you are using losses carried forwards from previous financial years to offset gains or not.
Option 1: Not applying losses carried forward from previous years
Option 1: Not applying losses carried forward from previous years
Add/Edit your capital gains and losses. Ensure to separate crypto activity from your other capital gains and losses.
The CTC ATO MyTax Report contains the three relevant fields of the same name to be input into the ATO form:
3. If your total current year capital gains and net capital gains difference indicates you have gains greater than $10,000 or losses of greater than $10,000 you will be required to fill in a Capital Gains Tax Schedule.
Note: As you cannot set the net capital gain to below zero, if your total current capital gains is less than $10,000 and the net capital gain is set to zero you will be asked if your total current year capital losses are more than $10,000 as below. Selecting yes will also ask you to complete the Capital Gains Tax Schedule:
If you have to fill in the Capital Gains Tax Schedule, follow the steps below:
Expand the Current year capital gains and losses section and scroll all the way down towards the bottom. Fill in the section under 'other assets' with the Total Current Year Capital Gains and Less: Capital Losses data from the CTC ATO myTax Report.
Next expand the Capital losses applied section and fill in the Total current year capital losses applied depending on the following (see image below):
- If your losses were larger than your gains (B > A) then input the Total Current Year Capital Gains (A) value in.
- If your losses were less than your gains (B < A) then input the Less: Capital Losses (B) value in.
Input a zero (0) into the Total prior year net capital loss applied and Total capital losses transferred in applied (if you did have losses from previous years being used to offset gains refer to Option 2: Using losses from previous years in the current year).
Expand the Unapplied net capital losses carried forward section and fill in a zero (0) for the first box regarding collectables. Use the Net Capital Loss Carried Forward to Later Income Year from the CTC report to fill in the Other net capital losses carried forward to later income years as shown:
Expand the CGT Discount section and input the Less: Discount Applied on Long Term Capital Gains from the CTC report into the Total CGT discount applied field:
The CGT concessions for small business section is only relevant to small business owners and does not need input for individuals.
Lastly, the tax schedule has a section labelled Other CGT Information and Earnout arrangements. These are generally not necessary to be interacted with by most users as they refer to special situations. More information on these and whether you are required to fill in any can be found here.
Option 2: Using losses from previous years in the current year
Option 2: Using losses from previous years in the current year
This option may require some more complex understandings of tax and it is recommended to have a tax professional guide you through the process if you are not confident.
IMPORTANT: To proceed you will need to know the current amount of previous years capital losses that you have that are being carried forwards to the current tax year. We cannot determine this figure for you, and if you are unsure then it is highly recommended to contact a tax professional. More information around this from the ATO can be found here.
Lastly, the ATO indicates that you can use carry over losses to offset gains however you choose (eg you could offset long term then short term or vice versa). The calculator below assumes you will use it to offset short term first and then long term (as this produces the lowest tax payable).
Start by downloading this excel sheet that will allow you to input your previous years capital losses that are being carried forwards. Click the button below (you will need access via a google account) and select File -> Download (Microsoft Excel, .xlxs) OR Make a Copy.
Within this file, you will be adding in four numbers into the green cells based on the following:
Current Year Short Term Capital Gains, Current Year Long Term Capital Gains and Current Year Capital Losses will be copied over directly from the CTC ATO myTax report. The file contains a reference number for each cell and will be taken from the CTC myTax report Capital Gains Breakdown section as below:
The last cell to fill in is the Previous Years Unused Capital Losses (D). This number is not one that we can provide and depends on your own tracking of previous years capital losses that have carried forwards to the current year. Note: The ATO provides guidance that shows that these previous years unused losses must be used, you cannot defer them to another year if they can be applied in the current year.
Once these 4 cells have been filled in, you can then proceed on the ATO site and will be using the numbers presented on this file to complete the remainder of the reporting.
On the myTax site. Add/Edit your capital gains and losses. Ensure to separate crypto activity from your other capital gains and losses.
The following page will be filled in using the figures referenced from the spreadsheet as follow:
Total current year capital gains = Reference E
Net capital gain = Reference G
Net capital loss carried forward to later income years = Reference L
If your total current year capital gains and net capital gains difference indicates you have gains greater than $10,000 or losses of greater than $10,000 you will be required to fill in a Capital Gains Tax Schedule.
Note: As you cannot set the net capital gain to below zero, if your total current capital gains is less than $10,000 and the net capital gain is set to zero you will be asked if your total current year capital losses are more than $10,000 as below. Selecting yes will also ask you to complete the Capital Gains Tax Schedule:
If you have to fill in the Capital Gains Tax Schedule, follow the steps below using the spreadsheet to input values that are being referenced. Where no value is suggested, enter a zero:
Expand the Current year capital gains and losses section and scroll all the way down towards the bottom. Fill in the section under 'other assets':
Next expand the Capital losses applied section and fill in the Total current year capital losses applied and Total prior year net capital losses applied as follows:
Expand the Unapplied net capital losses carried forward section and fill in a zero (0) for the first box regarding collectables. Fill in the Other net capital losses carried forward to later income years as shown:
Expand the CGT Discount section and input following into the Total CGT discount applied field:
The CGT concessions for small business section is only relevant to small business owners and does not need input for individuals.
Lastly, the tax schedule has a section labelled Other CGT Information and Earnout arrangements. These are generally not necessary to be interacted with by most users as they refer to special situations. More information on these and whether you are required to fill in any can be found here.
How to fill out your staking rewards and other incomes?
Add/Edit your other income. Ensure to separate crypto activity from your other income.
Go to ‘Any other income’ and 'Add' an entry
Type of payment - Other
Your description - From the Other Income section of the ATO MyTax Report, enter the entries that hold values, eg staking rewards, airdrop, interest, royalty
Amount - Enter the corresponding value
If you have more income categories to enter from the Other Income list, you can select ‘Add' again for 'Any other income’ and add these entries according to steps 1 and 2.
How to claim the deduction for your Crypto Tax Calculator (CTC) Subscription?
Add/Edit your ‘Deductions’.
Add ‘Cost of managing tax affairs’.
Type of deduction - Other expenses incurred in managing your tax affairs
Your description - Crypto Tax Calculator 2022/23 Subscription
Amount - Your subscription price
According to the ATO, you may claim a deduction for buying software that allows you to prepare and lodge your tax return. However, keep in mind that you should consult with your accountant if you have any questions filling out the form.
Click ‘Save and continue’. Now you’ve done the crypto portion of your taxes! 🎉
Ensure you complete all other sections that are not crypto-related. If you have other crypto tax items not included in our explanation above, reach out to your accountant for advice.
Detailed breakdown of the CTC ATO MyTax Report
The following section provides details into each section of the ATO MyTax Report including how calculations are obtained.
Report Details
The top of the report contains information on when the report was generated, who it was generated for and the settings at the time of generation. The country and currency is determined at sign up and cannot be changed, whereas the inventory method and cost basis tracking can be changed in the settings.
Capital Gain Summary
The Capital Gains Summary provides three figures that are each relevant to a field within myTax. The values for the calculations these are made from can be obtained within the next section, the Capital Gains Breakdown. The sections of this summary are:
Total Current Year Capital Gains : This is the total capital gains (both long term and short term gains added together) made within the time period selected.
Net Capital Gains : There will be a value displayed here if the total capital losses did not exceed the capital gains in the given tax year (if they did, refer to the the next section on Net Capital Loss carried Forward to Later Income Years). This represents the capital gains after calculating in the capital losses from this financial year firstly and then the long term gains discount.
Note: The long term capital gains discount is applied to the remainder of the capital gains after the capital losses are deducted, NOT the total long term capital gains amount.
WHERE: Total Capital Gains is GREATER than Total Capital Losses
Net Capital Gains = Total Capital Gains - Total Capital Losses - Discount Applied on Long Term Capital Gains
Important: If you are carrying forward capital losses from a previous tax year, you will have to apply that to this calculation manually. Our calculation will not include it in the capital losses. We recommend you seek professional tax help to assist with this.
Example
John had bought and traded Bitcoin that he held for over a year and so was entitled to the long term discount of 50% on any gains. The gains he had on these Bitcoin trades was $1000. In the current tax year he also traded other tokens, some did well and some did not. He had short term gains of $300 and capital losses of $400. He had no losses carried forwards from a previous year.
When calculating his taxes John will have to work out his total gains for this year firstly:
1000 + 300 = 1300
He will then deduct any losses to this total:
1300 - 400 = 900
Lastly, as John is eligible for the long term discount. He will apply the 50% long term discount on the remaining portion of the long term gains. In this situation the entirety of the short term gain was offset from the losses and a portion of the long term, leaving the remaining long term amount at 900.
Therefore:
50% of 900 = 450
450 is John's net capital loss.
Net Capital Loss Carried Forward to Later Income Years : If the total capital losses was greater than the total capital gains, the excess capital loss will be shown here. This number can be carried forwards to offset capital gains in subsequent tax years.
Note: Previous years carry on capital losses (if any) will also have to be included in here manually as capital losses applied against the capital gains.
WHERE: Total Capital Gains is LESS than Total Capital Losses
Net Capital Loss Carried Forward = Total Capital Gains - Total Capital Losses
Example
John had bought a risky token at the start of the year for $10,000 and when the price dropped significantly, he gave up and sold the token for $100. This represents a sizeable loss:
100 - 10,000 = 9,900 loss
John also had some luck, and in the same tax year he had traded to what came out to a gain of $5000.
At the end of the year he worked out his total gains against his total losses:
5000 - 9,900 = -4,900
Therefore John will have a Net Capital Loss that will carry forwards to later years to offset potential gains.
Capital Gains Breakdown
The figures in this section of the report are not necessary data for myTax however they are useful for personal reference to understand how the calculations are obtained in the summary above.
Short Term Capital Gains: The capital gains made when the asset was acquired and disposed of in a time period of less than a year.
Long Term Capital Gains: The capital gains made when the asset was acquired and held for a minimum of a year before being disposed of. This number does not have any discount applied yet.
Total Current Year Capital Gains: This value represents the Short Term Capital Gains and the Long Term Capital Gains values added together. This value is on the summary also.
Less: Capital Losses: This value shows the total capital losses accrued over the year. These will be directly used to offset gains; firstly the short term capital gains and then the long term. Any excess will be placed in the Net Capital Loss Carried Forward to Later Income Years field.
Less: Discount Applied on Long Term Capital Gains: The long term capital gain discount is a 50% discount applicable on the value of long term capital gains that remain after all capital losses have been offset against short term and long term capital gains.
Net Capital Gains: This value shows the Total Capital Gains less the Total Capital Losses and Discount Applied on Long Term Capital Gains. If losses exceed the gains, this value will be zero. This value is in the summary and is explained in the summary section above in further detail.
Net Capital Loss Carried Forward to Later Income Years: If the capital losses were greater than the total capital gains, this will show the excess. This is explained in the summary section above in further detail.
Other Income
This section of the report contains values that may be considered income and thus not affecting the capital gains in the sections above. They are referenced here as they may need to be included in your myTax return. We recommend you consult a tax professional to determine if this is applicable to you. More detail can be found within the income report.
Expense Summary
The expense summary gives an overview of the various transactions that may be considered expenses and may need to be included in your myTax return. It is recommended to speak to an accountant to decide how best to incorporate these expenses into your tax return.
Note: Transaction fees are considered when calculating capital gains and will be included in the capital gains section of this report.
Tax Settings
The settings that this report was generated under. These can be changed by going to the settings through the drop down icon in top right, then selecting Portfolio and Tax and scrolling down to the various toggles that impact these conditions. We recommend talking to a tax professional if you decide to change any of these.
Report Warnings
The last section contains a list of the outstanding warnings our system has flagged at the time the report was generated. It is recommended to resolve these before generating a report to help improve accuracy. You can access these warnings to rectify them by going to the Review page. Unaddressed issues may impact your report values.
Additional Reading
For additional reading and an understanding of the calculations are obtained in the ATO MyTax Report you can check out these articles from the ATO: How to work out your capital gains and losses and CGT discount.