Cryptocurrency Tax Taiwan: What You Need to Know About Reporting Crypto in Taiwan

When you trade, earn, or hold cryptocurrency, digital assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum that function as money or investment tools. Also known as crypto, it isn’t tax-free in Taiwan — even if no one asks you about it. The Taiwan National Taxation Bureau treats crypto as property, not currency. That means every sale, trade, or conversion triggers a taxable event. If you bought Bitcoin for $5,000 and sold it for $8,000, you owe tax on the $3,000 gain. No exceptions. No gray area.

What most people miss is that crypto income, earnings from staking, airdrops, or mining. Also known as crypto rewards, it is taxed as ordinary income. If you got 0.5 ETH from an airdrop worth $1,200 when you received it, that $1,200 is taxable income in the year you got it. Same goes for staking rewards on platforms like Lido or Kraken. You don’t need to sell to owe tax — just receiving it does. And if you used crypto to buy a laptop or pay for a meal? That’s a taxable disposal too. The value at the time of the transaction is your cost basis. No one is tracking your wallet, but if you get audited, you’re responsible for proving every trade.

Taiwan doesn’t have a formal crypto tax form like the IRS Form 8949, but you still need to report gains and income on your annual income tax return. The key is keeping records: dates, amounts, values in TWD at time of transaction, and wallet addresses. Tools like Koinly or CoinTracker can help, but the burden is on you. There’s no official guidance from the tax authority, which means many people assume they’re safe — but that’s risky. If you’ve traded on Binance, OKX, or any overseas exchange, those platforms don’t report to Taiwan. You’re flying blind unless you track it yourself.

And here’s what nobody tells you: crypto compliance, the practice of correctly reporting and paying taxes on digital asset activity. Also known as crypto tax reporting, it isn’t optional if you’re a resident. Taiwan taxes worldwide income. If you live there, even if you bought crypto on a U.S. exchange, it’s taxable. Non-residents? Only if the income is sourced in Taiwan. But if you’re working remotely for a Taiwanese company and getting paid in USDT? That’s taxable. The rules are simple, even if the enforcement is quiet.

You don’t need to be a tax expert to get this right. Just track your buys, sells, and rewards. Save screenshots. Note the TWD value on the day you received or spent crypto. If you’ve done more than five trades in a year, you’re likely already liable. The government isn’t chasing small-time traders — but they will come after those who make big moves and disappear. And with cross-chain monitoring tools improving, it’s getting harder to hide transactions across blockchains.

Below, you’ll find real examples of how crypto tax situations unfolded in Taiwan — from airdrops that turned into taxable income to failed tokens that still triggered capital gains. No theory. No guesswork. Just what happened, what you owe, and how to avoid the same mistakes.