Taxable Events: A Reference List

Entry last verified July 2026. Treatment varies by jurisdiction and this is a description of common patterns rather than advice for any specific situation.

Generally a disposal

Action	Note
Selling for currency	The obvious case
Swapping one asset for another	A disposal and an acquisition, even with no cash involved
Spending crypto on goods or services	Disposal at market value on the day
Paying a fee in an appreciated asset	Technically a disposal of the fee amount
Converting to a stablecoin	Still a disposal in most jurisdictions

The second row catches more people than any other item. Traders who never withdraw to a bank frequently assume nothing is owed.

Generally income

Action	Note
Mining rewards	Valued at receipt
Staking rewards	Frequently at receipt; contested in some jurisdictions
Airdrops	Frequently at receipt, even if unwanted
Payment for work	Valued at receipt
Referral and promotional rewards	Valued at receipt

Income recognised at receipt creates a liability based on a value that may later collapse, which is the specific trap in this category.

Generally neither

Action	Note
Buying with currency and holding	No disposal
Transferring between your own wallets	Not a disposal, and record it anyway
Unrealised appreciation	Generally not taxed
Moving between your own accounts at different venues	Same as above

The record-keeping requirement

Calculating a gain requires the cost basis: what you paid, including fees, for the specific units disposed of.

Without records, several jurisdictions will assume a basis of zero, which treats the entire proceeds as gain.

The eight fields

Date and time, type, asset out and amount, asset in and amount, value in your currency at that moment, fee, platform, note.

Recorded at the time. The value field is the one that cannot be reconstructed accurately later.

The practical advice

Set aside the estimated tax when a gain is realised, in the currency you will pay it in. Not at filing time.

Export your full transaction history annually before any possibility of a venue changing format or closing your market. Platforms publishing a complete export, such as venues where the asset is listed for retail purchase, make this a single file.

Get professional advice if you traded actively, earned crypto as income, used decentralised protocols, or hold across jurisdictions. The fee is usually smaller than the cost of getting it wrong.