How to do your Independent Reserve taxes

What is Independent Reserve

Independent Reserve is a digital currency exchange that has been helping Australians securely invest in crypto since 2013. Independent Reserve puts a strong focus on ensuring security of cryptocurrency assets.

The benefits of using Independent Reserve for Australian investors are:

Australian based exchange
audited platform with segregated funds and ISO 27001 certified

Independent Reserve has the following tax reports:

Independent Reserve tax statement PDF
Independent Reserve tax CSV

Syla + Independent Reserve integration

✅ API sync

✅ CSV file import

Do you have to pay tax on cryptocurrency?

Ever since the ATO first introduced taxation guidelines for crypto back in 2014 it’s been clear that crypto is taxable. You can also read the most up to date ATO guidelines on crypto.

For most individuals, your crypto will be subject to capital gains tax. This means you must calculate the gain or loss on every transaction and declare the resulting capital gains.

The ATO has advised that Australian taxpayers must keep the following records:

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

How is crypto taxed on Independent Reserve

The type and amount of tax paid can vary depending on the transaction, asset type and your tax settings. Here’s just some of the transaction types that can occur on Independent Reserve, all with different possible tax outcomes.

Independent Reserve transactions in Syla

Example tax treatment:

ordinary income - commission
deduction / capitalisation - brokerage fees, services fees and statement fees

All events involving cryptocurrency assets may result in acquisitions or disposals of a CGT asset.

As we all know, crypto tax is complicated, which is why most tax professionals recommend using crypto tax software to automate the tax calculations for you. That way you won’t make mistakes that could trigger an ATO audit.

If you want to know more about the different tax treatments, you can find detailed information in our ultimate crypto tax guide.

Does Independent Reserve report transactions to the ATO

Independent Reserve is a registered Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) with AUSTRAC. As an AUSTRAC registered DCE, Independent Reserve must 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, the digital currency exchange must provide transaction data of their users to the ATO.

In short, the ATO knows your transaction history on Independent Reserve. You’ll know the ATO has your cryptocurrency 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 the ATO comes knocking.

What your tax agent can see on your prefill report for your tax return

API Sync - how to create API keys

In the top right, click your user profile and select Security.
Select the API Keys tab.
Click Generate API key.
Select the Read Only option.
In the API Key description, type Syla.
Enter your password and click Generate.
Copy the API key and paste into Syla.
Copy the API secret and paste into Syla.
In Syla, click Secure Sync.

CSV file import - how to get your transaction history

There is one important Independent Reserve tax CSV file that you need to download to get your transaction history from Independent Reserve:

Transaction History Report CSV

In the top navbar, click Transactions, and select Reports.
Click Transaction history report.
Enter a From date that is earlier than your first transaction.
Enter the current date for the To date.
Select Download transaction history as a CSV.
Click Download.

PDF balances - how to download your report

There is also one important PDF tax statement from Independent Reserve:

Holdings Report PDF

This holding statement provides a snapshot of your balances on 30 June, which can be used to confirm your calculated balances in Syla match what is reported on Independent Reserve.

In the top navbar, click Transactions, and select Reports.
Click Holdings Report.
Enter the On date as the 30 June of the last financial year.
Click Download.

Independent Reserve Balances Instructions 1

Independent Reserve Balances Instructions 2

Independent Reserve Balances Instructions 3

How to do Independent Reserve taxes

Our Australian financial year starts on the 1 July and ends on the 30 June each year. You can prepare and lodge your tax return any time after the 30 June.

You have until the 31 October to lodge your individual tax return, or you can get an extended lodgement deadline till 15 May when lodging through a registered tax agent.

There are three ways you can complete your cryptocurrency tax return

do it yourself by hand in a spreadsheet 😭
provide your transaction statements to your tax agent / accountant
use crypto tax software to automate the calculations and optimise for lower tax.

If you decide to do it yourself by hand, then you will need to be very careful to track the individual cost base of each crypto asset, and calculate the capital gain or loss on each disposal. This might be okay if you only have a handful of transactions. 👍

Otherwise, you can use Syla to do your Independent Reserve crypto tax calculations and tax optimisation. You can also provide the final Crypto Tax Report you create in Syla to your tax agent, or you can use the report yourself to lodge your own tax return.

Important tips for Independent Reserve taxes and minimising your tax bill

Follow these tips for common gotchya’s that will save you time and lead to better tax outcomes.

Export your entire transaction history - Capital gains tax calculations depend on trades that occurred in prior years. For this reason, it’s really important that you export your entire transaction history on Independent Reserve (not just the current financial year).

Syla’s smart tax logic for Independent Reserve

You’ll find some really smart logic in Syla that is going to make doing your crypto taxes on Independent Reserve quick and easy.

Smart logic means that transactions are correctly classified for you automatically and all possible costs are claimed. That’s great, because you’ll have certainty in your tax and avoid paying more tax than you are legally required to.

Here’s just some of smart logic that has been specifically implemented for Independent Reserve that you’ll find in Syla’s crypto tax calculator:

smart aggregation of orders that execute multiple trades
detection and classification of self-trade events
classification of account fees and tax statement fees
claim deposit fees on AUD deposits
declare commission income

Pay the lowest crypto tax and save the hassle of doing crypto tax yourself

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

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 why using cryptocurrency tax software can save you a lot of time 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 compliant to the ATO, but it also optimises your tax to ensure you pay the lowest crypto tax legally possible, saving you both time and money.

Syla is built specifically for Australian taxpayers
Syla’s tax logic is optimised by Australian tax lawyers to legally minimise tax
Syla’s Crypto Tax Reports are recognised by Australian tax professionals as being ATO compliant

You can get started in Syla for free.

FAQ

Does Independent Reserve have tax statements?

Yes, Independent Reserve has 1 Independent Reserve Holding Statement in PDF format, and 1 tax CSV transaction statements (Transaction History CSV) that you can download. These are all important for completing your crypto tax calculations and record keeping.

How do I get Independent Reserve tax statements?

You can easily login and download your tax CSV statements. Once you have your tax statements, you can use crypto tax software to import your data and calculate your tax. Syla is a crypto tax software specifically designed for Australian taxpayers.

Does Independent Reserve have an end of year tax statement?

Yes, Independent Reserve has a Holding Statement that you can download in PDF format. This document is helpful for your record keeping and substantiation of your activity. It’s hard to get the data from a PDF, so you’ll still need to download your tax CSV transaction statements to do your tax calculations.

Do I have to pay taxes on Independent Reserve?

Yes, Independent Reserve reports user transaction data to the ATO, and the ATO has been providing crypto tax guidance since 2014. You’ll be facing an audit and penalties from the ATO if you don’t declare your crypto gains.