KuCoin won’t send you a Canadian tax slip, and the CRA doesn’t provide a crypto worksheet. So you export the account history, turn every disposition into a Canadian dollar gain or loss and report the net on your return. Exchanges rename and move their menus, so check the KuCoin help centre for the current export route. This guide covers the method.
No slip does not mean no reporting
For most exchange activity, don’t wait for a form. You report dispositions whether or not one arrives, and the CRA can ask for the records behind any figure on your return. Those records need each transaction’s date and time, the number and type of units and the value in Canadian dollars. The CRA says to keep them at least six years after the end of the last tax year they relate to.
Gain or business income
Most people who buy and sell now and then report capital gains, and half of a gain is taxable. The CRA looks at how often you trade, how long you hold, and the time and money you put in. A $30,000 profit adds $15,000 to income as a gain and $30,000 as business income. The capital gains tax calculator shows the difference.
Getting the data out
Look in the account’s order and transaction history area for exports. You’ll usually find separate reports for spot trades, deposits and withdrawals and earn payouts. Request all types for each year, oldest first. Split long ranges if an export fails, count the rows against any total shown, and keep the original untouched.
The alternative is a read-only API key entered into a tax tool. Nothing that can trade or withdraw belongs there. Delete the key when you’re done. An API may not reach older history, so compare it with files for at least one year.
Traps that spoil the numbers
Exchanges often split one login into internal accounts, and moving coins between them creates rows that aren’t sales. Mark them as transfers. Movements to outside wallets need the other side imported so the tool can pair them.
Converting small leftover balances into one coin is a set of tiny dispositions, one per coin given up. And staking or lending payouts are generally income when received, at their Canadian dollar value. Receive 25 tokens worth $2.40 each and you report $60 of income with a $60 cost. Sell them at $75 later and $15 is the gain.
If title to lent coins passes to a borrower, that could be a disposition. Read the product terms and ask a professional about anything you can’t classify.
Why average cost replaces first-in, first-out
For identical units the adjusted cost base is the average. Take 10 units bought at $100 and 10 at $300, then a sale of 10 at $400. First-in, first-out gives a gain of $3,000. Averaging pools 20 units costing $4,000, so the cost of the 10 sold is $2,000 and the gain is $2,000.
A longer run shows how it carries forward. Buy 200 units for $1,000 and 300 for $2,400, giving 500 units at $6.80. Sell 150 for $1,500 and the gain is $1,500 minus $1,020, or $480. Buy 100 more for $900 and the pool is 450 units costing $3,280. Sell 250 for $2,750 and the gain is $927.78. Total gains are $1,407.78, half taxable.
Confirm your tool’s method before you import.
Prices in Canadian dollars
Most coins trade against a dollar-linked token. Use a documented price source and a documented exchange rate, such as the Bank of Canada daily rate, and apply them to the whole return. Selling 2,000 tokens at US$0.85 when the rate is 1.37 gives proceeds of $2,329. At 1.40 it would be $2,380, which is why the rate must match the date of each trade. Save a dated screenshot for large items.
Losses, foreign property and filing
Half of a capital loss offsets gains. The superficial loss rule denies a loss if you or an affiliated person, such as a spouse, buys identical property within 30 days before or after the sale and still holds it. You sell 500 units at a $1,500 loss on October 10 and rebuy on October 30. The loss can’t be claimed, and it adds to the cost of the new units.
File Form T1135 if the total cost of specified foreign property, all holdings combined, was over $100,000 in Canadian dollars at any time in the year. The test uses cost, not value. Whether crypto on a given platform counts depends on the CRA’s current view, so read the form guide each year.
Before filing, reconcile each coin’s year-end balance and compare bank deposits with exchange deposits. The deadline is April 30, or June 15 if self-employed, though balances are due April 30. Late filing with a balance owing costs 5% plus 1% per full month. See the late filing penalty guide and the notices guide. See also the Marginal Tax Rate & Tax Brackets calculator, and the full set of tax calculators.
Sources
- CRA, Crypto-asset guide
- CRA, Income from crypto-asset transactions
- CRA, Crypto-asset books and records
- CRA, Mining and staking
- CRA, Valuing crypto-assets
- CRA, Form T1135
Common questions
Do I need a slip to report KuCoin gains?
Is converting small balances taxable?
Which cost method does the CRA expect?
Is staking income taxed differently from gains?
Last reviewed: . Figures come from the official sources listed above. How we check the numbers and our editorial policy.