Australia consults on crypto-asset reporting and CRS changes

An enabling international framework

Proposed Subdivision 396-D of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 would let regulations prescribe international tax-information frameworks in which Australia has agreed to participate. Ministerial rules could then specify reporting entities, transactions, information, periods, due diligence and penalties. The bill is not itself the complete Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework rulebook.^[2]

A separate domestic obligation

Proposed section 396-55 table item 16 would cover providers of registrable virtual asset services under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. It concerns exchanges or transfers for users resident in Australia at any time in the reporting period—not every business holding crypto-assets. The service definition excludes financial institutions, casinos and services excluded by the Rules.^[2][7]

Domestic reporting would apply to financial years, or Commissioner-specified periods, beginning on or after 1 July 2027. Treasury intends quarterly reporting, requiring a future instrument. Existing section 396-55 instead defaults to a financial year and a report by the thirty-first day afterwards. Separately, Treasury plans CARF collection for calendar 2027 and first reports in 2028.^[3][4]

Updating CRS rather than replacing its legal basis

Current section 396-110 incorporates the 2014 CRS. The draft would add the specified 2023 amendments to its rules and commentary. Its reference to the OECD’s 2025 consolidated text is an unofficial-consolidation note, not substitution of that whole document for the incorporated standard.^[2][4]

Treasury describes wider specified e-money, central bank digital-currency and indirect crypto-investment coverage, stronger reporting and due diligence, and targeted low-risk exclusions. The draft would also remove scholarship plans from specified excluded-account treatment. Other CRS amendments would apply to calendar 2027 onwards; this does not impose domestic crypto reporting from January.^[3]

Due-diligence penalties are distinct

The existing one-unit section 288-85 penalty concerns obtaining self-certification. The proposal would also address validation and changed circumstances. Its transition turns on the later of 1 January 2027 and commencement. The separate 2023 remission determination modifies section 298-20 only for section 286-75 late-filing penalties; it does not extend that modification to section 288-85.^[3][5][6]

For multinational groups, our practical reading is to map provider roles, customer residence and reporting calendars separately. Proposed commencement is the first calendar-quarter start after Royal Assent; future CARF rules and domestic period-setting instruments still need separate review.^[2][3]