Cryptocurrency Taxation in Taiwan

When you trade, earn, or hold cryptocurrency, digital assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum that function as a store of value or medium of exchange. Also known as digital currency, it is treated by Taiwan’s tax system not as money, but as property. That’s the key difference. Unlike countries that tax crypto only when you sell it, Taiwan looks at every transaction—trading one coin for another, earning rewards, or cashing out—as a taxable event.

There’s no official law called "Crypto Tax Act," but the Taiwanese tax authority, the Ministry of Finance and the National Taxation Bureau. Also known as NTB, it enforces tax rules under existing income and property laws. If you profit from selling Bitcoin for NT dollars, that’s capital gain. If you get paid in crypto for freelance work, that’s ordinary income. If you stake ETH and earn rewards, those are taxable too. The tax authority doesn’t care if you used Binance, KuCoin, or a decentralized exchange—what matters is the value in NT dollars at the time you received or sold it.

Most people don’t report crypto taxes in Taiwan. But enforcement is tightening. The government has been pushing banks and exchanges for transaction data. In 2024, the NTB started cross-checking bank transfers with known exchange wallet addresses. If you made over NT$500,000 in crypto trades in a year and didn’t declare it, you’re already on their radar. Fines start at 20% of the unpaid tax, plus interest. Repeat offenders risk criminal charges.

There’s no blanket exemption for personal use. Even if you bought a laptop with Bitcoin, the gain from that purchase is taxable. You can’t just say "I didn’t cash out." The moment you swap one asset for another—say, ETH for SOL—you’ve triggered a taxable event. And yes, even if you lost money overall, you still need to report every single trade. No aggregation allowed.

What about airdrops and NFTs? If you received an airdrop, it’s income at fair market value when you got it. If you sold an NFT for profit, it’s a capital gain. No gray area. The rules are simple: track everything. Use a spreadsheet. Note the date, the coin, the amount, the NT dollar value at time of receipt, and the NT dollar value at time of sale or trade. That’s all you need to stay compliant.

There’s no crypto-specific tax form. You report everything under your annual income tax return, in the "other income" or "property transaction gains" sections. If you’re a trader, not just a holder, you may be classified as a business—meaning higher rates and stricter recordkeeping. Most individuals aren’t classified that way… unless you’re trading daily and making serious money.

What’s missing? Deductions. Unlike the U.S., Taiwan doesn’t let you offset crypto losses against other income. If you lost NT$100,000 on Solana and made NT$80,000 on Bitcoin, you still pay tax on the $80K. Losses can’t be carried forward. That’s a big difference from other countries.

What you’ll find in the posts below are real examples of how people in Taiwan are navigating this. From how to track transactions without fancy software, to what happens when the tax office asks for proof, to why some traders are quietly moving assets offshore. These aren’t theories. These are stories from people who’ve been through it—and what they learned the hard way.