What is Kraken
Kraken is one of the world’s oldest digital currency exchanges, having been first founded in 2011. Kraken is the best way to buy and stake crypto.
The benefits of using Kraken for Australian investors are:
- instant AUD deposit through PayID and Osko
- trade with as little as $5
- 24/7 live chat and email support
- earn staking rewards
Kraken has the following tax reports:
- Kraken tax CSV
Syla + Kraken 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 Kraken
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 Kraken, all with different possible tax outcomes.
Example tax treatment:
- zero cost acquisition - chainsplits
- deduction / capitalisation - brokerage fees and withdrawal 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 Kraken report transactions to the ATO
Kraken is a registered Digital Currency Exchange (DCE) with AUSTRAC. As an AUSTRAC registered DCE, Kraken 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 Kraken. 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.
CSV file import - how to get tax statement from Kraken
There is 1 important Kraken tax CSV file that you need to download to get your transaction history from Kraken:
- Ledgers CSV
Follow these instructions to download your transaction history from Kraken:
- login to Kraken
- from the top navbar, click History
- from the sub-navbar, click Export
- in the first dropdown, select Ledgers
- enter a From date that is earlier than your first transaction
- enter the current date for the To date
- click Submit
- wait for the export to complete and then click Download
- unzip the folder to get your CSV
How to do Kraken 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 Kraken 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 Kraken 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 Kraken (not just the current financial year).
Syla’s smart tax logic for Kraken
You’ll find some really smart logic in Syla that is going to make doing your crypto taxes on Kraken 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 Kraken that you’ll find in Syla’s crypto tax calculator:
- smart parsing of cryptocurrency and fiat asset ticker symbols
- smart detection of duplicate rows during import
- capitalisation of brokerage fees
- detection of chainsplit events including BSV
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 Kraken have tax statements?
Yes, Kraken has 1 tax CSV transaction statements (Ledgers CSV) that you can download. This file is important for completing your crypto tax calculations and record keeping.
How do I get Kraken 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.
Do I have to pay taxes on Kraken ?
Yes, Australian taxpayers are legally required to declare income from their worldwide income sources. 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.
