Australia drafts OECD crypto tax reporting bill

TLDR

Australia has published draft legislation to plug its crypto tax system into the OECDs global reporting framework and create formal domestic reporting rules.

1. The Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2026 would implement the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and is open for public comment until 28 October.
2. If enacted, it will require crypto platforms to identify users and report specified transactions to Australias tax authority and participating foreign tax agencies, without changing tax rates.
3. International exchanges of crypto tax data are targeted to start in 2028, alongside separate licensing and conduct rules for Australian crypto platforms planned for 2027.

Deep Dive

1. What The Draft Bill Does

Australias Treasury has released the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2026: Tax information reporting, a draft law designed to bring the OECDs Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) into Australian legislation and to establish a domestic crypto tax reporting regime for Australian residents. The exposure draft is open for submissions until 28 October 2026, after which the government can revise it and decide whether to introduce it to Parliament, according to reporting from Cointelegraph and TokenPost.

CARF was approved by the OECD in August 2022 to tackle cross-border tax evasion involving crypto assets and now has commitments from 77 jurisdictions to implement it by 2029, with initial data exchanges set between 2027 and 2029 as noted by Crypto.news. Australia signaled support in November 2023 and ran a consultation on implementation and related Common Reporting Standard (CRS) changes in late 2024, making this bill the next step in a multi-year plan.

2. Impact On Exchanges And Users

Under the draft, crypto-asset service providers such as exchanges and certain intermediaries would be required to collect user-identification data and report qualifying transactions involving Australian residents, including crypto-to-fiat trades, crypto-to-crypto exchanges and some transfers, giving the Australian Taxation Office detailed records of activity, as described by Crypto.news. Those reports would then feed annual information exchanges with other CARF jurisdictions.

The proposal does not introduce new crypto tax rates. Instead, it systematizes reporting so existing capital gains and income rules can be enforced more consistently. For Australian users, this means that using offshore platforms will no longer reliably keep activity outside domestic and foreign tax visibility once CARF exchanges begin, currently targeted for 2028.

3. What To Watch Next

In the near term, the key milestone is the consultation period ending 28 October 2026. Feedback from exchanges, custodians and tax professionals could influence how broad the reporting definitions are and how burdensome compliance becomes before any bill is introduced and debated in Parliament.

More broadly, Australia is also tightening platform rules. The securities regulator ASIC is consulting on capital, custody and trading standards for crypto platforms ahead of a licensing regime due in 2027, with proposals outlined in Cryptoslate. Together, CARF-based tax reporting and platform licensing point to a regime where both user identity and platform behavior are more closely supervised.

Conclusion

Australias draft bill is a significant move toward embedding crypto into mainstream tax transparency, aligning with a wider OECD push and closing the loophole of offshore trading for tax purposes. For crypto users and platforms, the main shift is not new taxes, but a more detailed and internationally shared record of who traded what, where, and when, combined with stricter operating rules from ASIC. How the final law balances enforcement, cost and privacy will depend on the consultation outcomes and the shape of the eventual legislation.