Bamboo Tax Guide

What is Bamboo

Bamboo is a simple and accessible investment app, available in Australia, eager to simplify your journey into cryptocurrency and precious metals. It offers a user-friendly approach to digital currencies, empowering everyone to secure their future by investing today's change in tomorrow.

• Bamboo offers effortless micro-investing through 'Round-ups' and regular 'Top-ups', enabling you to put small investments into cryptocurrency and precious metals.
• It offers the ability to customise your investment portfolio and also guides you on taking advantage of the market through 'Dollar Cost Averaging'.
• With Bamboo, you also have the opportunity to earn 'BAM Rewards' for investing or referring friends, which can be cashed out whenever you like.

Do you have to pay tax on crypto?

Since the ATO issued crypto tax guidance back in 2014, we've understood that crypto is taxable.

As someone paying taxes in Australia, you must declare all your earnings, including any from crypto gains. This includes your crypto gains on Bamboo and any other Australian or overseas crypto platforms.

ATO tax treatment of crypto

There are two types of assessable income that your Bamboo investments are taxed on in Australia:

Capital Gains Tax (CGT): You’ll end up with capital gains whenever you buy a crypto asset, and later sell it for a higher price. Capital gains and losses can result from trades, swaps, gifts and many other types of transactions.

Example: You purchase Polkadot on Bamboo and later sell it, generating a Capital Gain that you must declare CGT on.

Ordinary Income: You can easily end up earning income from a range of sources such as referrals, rewards, airdrops and many more. These sources of income must be declared on your income tax return.

Example: You get an airdrop on Bamboo, causing Ordinary Income which must be declared.

It's important to understand your crypto taxes. Make sure you know which transaction records to save and how to figure out your taxes to stop mistakes that might flag the ATO.

Penalties for not declaring tax

The ATO, equipped with a $3.6 billion yearly budget, is responsible for Australia's tax administration. It employs a specialised Black Economy Taskforce to crack down on the shadow economy, including undeclared crypto. Failing to declare taxes in Australia carries serious penalties, including fines, interest charges, and even criminal prosecution for tax evasion.

Investors who use Bamboo and avoid their tax by not declaring their gains are putting themselves at huge risk. Fortunately, Australia has one of the highest rates of tax compliance with over 93.7% of individual taxpayers fully complying with their tax obligations, so only a very small minority are trying to actively rort the system.

Being late to lodge your taxes can have consequences, damaging your standing with the ATO and the Australian Government, and heightening the risk of audits or reviews. A poor standing with the ATO can also make it tougher to acquire loans or home mortgages.

Does Bamboo report transactions to the ATO?

Bamboo is an Australian registered entity, Bamboo 61 Pty Ltd (ABN 86 626 100 981). As an Australian digital currency exchange, it's a legal requirement for Bamboo to register with AUSTRAC, perform KYC and know the identity of their customers. This is important for preventing scammers and criminal activity.

Since 2019 the ATO has been operating a data sharing program with Australian Digital Currency Exchanges. Under the data sharing program, Bamboo must provide transaction data of their users to the ATO.

In short, the ATO knows about your transaction history on Bamboo.

You’ll know the ATO has your crypto transaction data, as it will show in the prefill report on your tax return. That means it's important that you do calculate and declare your crypto gains, otherwise it’s only a matter of time before you end up under audit by the ATO.

ATO record keeping requirements

To complete your crypto taxes each year, there’s some important records that you need to keep. Having these records will help you to calculate and declare your crypto tax, and are also your evidence if you need to prove how your crypto tax was calculated.

The ATO record keeping requirements for crypto require you to keep the following:

• receipts when you buy, transfer or dispose of crypto assets
• a record of the date of each transaction
• a record of what the transaction is for and who the other party is (this can just be their crypto asset address)
• exchange records
• a record of the value of the crypto asset in Australian dollars at the time of each transaction
• records of agent, accountant and legal costs
• digital wallet records and keys
• a record of software costs that relate to managing your tax affairs

The ATO has also advised that records should be kept for at least 5 years.

Bamboo Account Statements

Bamboo has made an account statement export available to ensure you can meet your record keeping requirements. You can follow the account statement export instructions from Bamboo to download a copy of the files.

You can download the following account statements from Bamboo.

Your crypto tax software may also be used to satisfy the ATO record keeping requirements. Syla has been designed to satisfy Section 121.20 and Section 121.25 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, that deals with ATO record keeping requirements.

Syla is an industry-leading crypto tax software that can be used for Bamboo. Syla can be used to record your transactions by File Import. Syla keeps a record of the original source data, in the exact format it appeared on your account in Bamboo, ensuring you meet your record keeping obligations.

Having your records is just step one, because now you’ll need to calculate the tax outcomes for each and every transaction. You’ll need to make sure you do it accurately, or you’ll be at increased risk from the ATO.

How is crypto taxed on Bamboo?

We all know that crypto is taxed, but the exact tax treatment can vary. Understanding exactly how your different crypto transactions are taxed can not only help you meet your tax obligations, but it can actually help you to make smarter investment decisions.

Important: In the following sections we are considering the tax treatment of an individual investor. If you’re a trader or a different entity such as a Company, Trust or SMSF, your tax treatment may vary.

When you buy crypto on Bamboo, it is a purchase of a CGT asset for tax purposes. Whenever you purchase a CGT asset you must record and track the cost base.

When you later sell crypto, you’ll need to record the proceeds from the sale. By subtracting the original cost base from the proceeds, you'll be able to calculate and declare the resulting capital gain or loss.

The basic idea works like this:

• If your crypto went up: declare the increase in value as a capital gain.
• If your crypto went down: report the decrease in value as a capital loss.
• If you held crypto over 12 months: it’s eligible for the 50% CGT discount.

The calculations for CGT can get very complicated, which is why our tax team wrote an in-depth guide on how to calculate CGT on crypto.

One of the most interesting features of Bamboo is the ability to purchase Tokenized Precious Metals. These are digital representations of physical metals that can be easily bought and sold online. For Australian crypto investors, this offers a unique way to diversify your portfolio, combining the traditional stability of precious metals with the modern technology of blockchain.

On Bamboo you can buy tokenised metals such as:

• Silver Standard (AGS)
• Gold Standard (AUS)

The ATO treats tokenised precious metals similar to other cryptocurrency assets. When you sell, trade, or exchange these tokens for a gain, you'll owe capital gains tax (CGT) on any net capital gain made. Just like crypto, if you hold onto the tokenised asset for more than a year, you might be eligible for a CGT discount.

The earn program on Bamboo allows you to generate interest on your crypto holdings. By transferring eligible crypto into the earn program, you will generate regular interest payments that add to your crypto holdings. You can think of it like earning interest in a bank account, except for your crypto.

Just like interest in your bank account, you must also calculate and declare the crypto that you earned in the earn program. For each crypto payout, you'll need to calculate the market value in AUD and declare it as ordinary income in your tax return. You’ll also need to track the cost base of the CGT asset, so you can declare the capital gain or loss when you sell it in the future.

Tracking daily crypto earn payouts can be a chore, and it’s easy to end up with hundreds, if not thousands of transactions, all of which are taxable. When selecting crypto tax software, make sure you check the cost-effectiveness based on the number of transactions you have, and pick one that can handle thousands for an affordable price.

Bamboo offers a crypto affiliate program. As a participant in this program, you can earn rewards by referring new customers to Bamboo. Whenever someone signs up for Bamboo using your referral link and begins trading, you'll receive a commission based on a percentage of the trading fees generated, which gets credited directly to your Swyftx account.

Any income earned through the Bamboo affiliate program must be reported for tax purposes. The ATO views these earnings as income, similar to income from a job or other business activity. If the commission is paid in crypto, its value in AUD at the time of receipt must be reported. This income will be subject to your regular income tax rate.

It's important to keep track of all your affiliate earnings for accurate reporting during the tax season. Document the date of each commission, the amount in AUD, and any transaction details. This information is crucial for accurately declaring the income in your tax return. Be mindful that cryptocurrency values can fluctuate, so it's important to record the AUD value at the time of earning the commission.

Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSFs) are a separate legal entity with different tax outcomes to individuals. Due to the requirement for the SMSF to pass an external audit each year, it's also important that all crypto records are kept in perfect order. Fortunately, you can get a Bamboo SMSF account that will keep your fund compliant.

The tax treatment for an SMSF entity is different to your individual tax. The biggest difference being that an SMSF is only eligible for a 1/3 (33.33%) discount, rather than the normal 50% discount that individuals are entitled to. Despite some differences, crypto held in an SMSF is still treated as a CGT asset that is held for an investment purpose.

When calculating the tax outcomes for a Bamboo SMSF, it's important to use Australian crypto tax software that has an account type specifically designed for SMSFs. This will ensure your SMSF passes its annual audit.

Read more: How to setup a crypto SMSF

How to do your Bamboo taxes

By now, you've likely realised there can be a lot to crypto tax, and getting it done correctly can be tricky. Let’s find out how you can actually get your Bamboo tax sorted.

ATO tax lodgement deadline

Our Australian financial year starts on the 1 July and ends on the 30 June each year, and you can prepare and lodge your tax return anytime after the 30 June up to 31 October.

The tax deadline for individual taxpayers is 31 October. Once you go past that date, your tax return is overdue, and your risk of penalties is increasing.

There is one way that you can easily extend your lodgement deadline though. You can receive an extended lodgement deadline till 15 May when lodging through a registered tax agent.

Some taxpayers find themselves with years of overdue tax returns. Unfortunately, the problem won’t just go away by ignoring it, and it’s only getting bigger in the meantime. With the ATO no doubt using the data collected from Bamboo more effectively each year, it’s only a matter of time before they catch up with you.

If you do have overdue tax returns, then it’s always worth working with a good tax accountant. They’ll be able to help you get your tax affairs back up to date. In many cases, investors can even end up receiving tax refunds from years of unlodged tax returns.

Self-lodge vs using an Accountant

When lodging your tax return, there’s two ways to go about it. Self-lodge yourself through myTax (myGov), or by lodging through a tax agent.

Self-lodging your tax return is definitely more affordable, as it means you don’t have to pay for an accountant. However, you’ll need to be much more careful about how you calculate and declare your tax outcomes. Follow our comprehensive guide to self-lodging your crypto tax.

Using an Accountant does cost more, but it will save you a lot of headache, and you won’t have to worry whether your tax return was done correctly. You’ll also have someone you can ask questions and get tax advice from. If your crypto activity is particularly complex, then it might be worth looking at a crypto tax specialist to help you.

Regardless of which approach you take, you’ll need some type of tax software for recording your crypto transactions and calculating the tax outcomes.

If you’re an Australian taxpayer, then it’s advisable to use tax software built specifically for Australia, otherwise the tax calculations may not be done correctly, putting you at risk with the ATO

How to select crypto tax software

When it comes to managing crypto taxes in Australia, choosing the right software is crucial for compliance and ease of use.

Tax regulations and compliance requirements vary significantly across jurisdictions, and what works in one country may not be suitable in another. Australian crypto investors need tax software that is specifically tailored to the unique aspects of Australian tax law. It's essential that the software not only calculates these taxes accurately but also updates its tax logic as tax laws evolve.

Ensure the crypto tax software is built specifically for Australia. Otherwise you may declare your tax incorrectly or overpay more tax than required.

You should also check for the software’s ability to integrate with popular Australian and international crypto exchanges. Having good support for Bamboo is a must, but you should also consider any other platforms you trade on.

Quality integrations are vital for maintaining accurate and complete records of all your crypto activities.

Crypto tax is complex, so having software that is user-friendly and intuitive will be a big help. Look for software that generates detailed, ATO-compliant reports which can be directly used for tax filings or shared with your accountant. You should also consider the level of customer support offered, and whether it's actually coming from an Australian support team.

If you don't have tax software for your crypto yet, then sign up for an account with Syla. It's the only tax software built exclusively for Australian crypto investors, and it has an industry-leading tax integration for Bamboo

Using crypto tax software

Crypto tax software is designed to make doing your crypto taxes much simpler. The software will calculate all the tax outcomes for you, so you only need to import your transactions, make any edits as required, and download your final crypto tax report. All the complicated tax calculations are automatically done for you.

It’s really easy using Syla to do your crypto tax:

1. Get started with a free account.
2. Add Bamboo as a data source and import your transactions.
3. Add any other platforms and wallets.
4. Review your transactions.
5. Download your Crypto Tax Report.

Syla does all the heavy lifting for you. Your transactions will be imported and the tax calculations will be done for you. When using LTFO tax optimisation you can even achieve lower tax outcomes than you normally would.

Once you've downloaded your crypto tax report from Syla, you can either give it to your tax agent, or you can use it to self-lodge your own tax return.

Importing transactions from Bamboo

The first step to getting your crypto tax sorted is to import your transactions from Bamboo.

Syla has an industry-leading tax integration with Bamboo. You can use the File Import in Syla.

File Import

Using a File Import is an effective way to import all your transactions on Bamboo as it’s safe and easy to do.

If you get stuck, we also have an Assisted File Import process.

Download your crypto tax report

Once you have all your transactions imported into Syla, you can view them, make edits if needed and import any other Data Sources that you have.

After you’re happy with everything, you can download your Crypto Tax Report.

Tax software for Bamboo

It's very difficult to correctly calculate all the tax outcomes of your crypto by hand unless you're a tax accountant.

If you are using a tax accountant, then you probably don’t want them doing it by hand either, as it's going to take a long time and cost a lot.

That’s where using crypto tax software can save you a lot of time and money, that you'd rather spend doing something else. 😊

Syla is the only crypto tax software designed specifically and only for Australia. Syla not only calculates all your tax outcomes to ensure you are ATO compliant, but it also optimises your tax to ensure you pay the lowest crypto tax legally possible, saving you both time and money.

• Best value - $59 AUD for 10,000 transactions.
• Absolute certainty - purpose-built for Australian tax law.
• Maximise your tax savings - using Syla's proprietary LTFO method.

👉 Get started for free.