CARF Has Started in NZ: What Crypto Traders Should Do Before It Reaches IRD

The short version

• Under CARF (the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework), NZ crypto platforms must start collecting your transaction and ID data from 1 April 2026.
• They don't report it to IRD straight away — the first reports are due 30 June 2027, covering the year to 31 March 2027.
• CARF is crypto only. It doesn't touch forex or CFD brokers.
• None of this changes the tax rules. Crypto trading profits have always been taxable in NZ as ordinary income, not capital gains.
• Separate but worth flagging: your IR3 for the 2025–26 year is due 7 July 2026.

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I'm Matt. I trade in NZ and I built TradeLog NZ because I got tired of US tools that have no idea how we're actually taxed here. A lot of what's being written about CARF right now is either scaremongering or just plain wrong, so let me lay out what's real.

You've probably seen posts claiming "IRD can now see every crypto trade you've ever made." Not quite. Here's the accurate timeline.

What CARF actually is

CARF is an OECD reporting standard — the same family as the Common Reporting Standard that already shares bank account info between countries. New Zealand has signed up, and it applies to what IRD calls Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers: exchanges, brokers and platforms that deal in crypto.

Under it, those platforms have to collect and eventually hand IRD:

• Your name, address and IRD number
• The types and volumes of your crypto transactions
• Gross proceeds from your sales

If you've ever onboarded to a NZ bank, the data they're collecting will feel familiar.

The bit everyone's getting wrong: the timeline

The platforms only start collecting from 1 April 2026. The first reporting period runs 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, and the first reports to IRD aren't due until 30 June 2027. RCASPs can't even register to file until March 2027.

So as of right now, IRD is not receiving a live feed of your trades. What's true is that the clock has started. By mid-2027, IRD will hold a detailed record of your NZ crypto activity, and that record will be matched against what you've declared.

Worth being honest about one thing, though: "IRD can't see it" was never really a safe bet anyway. Between the existing Common Reporting Standard and IRD's normal information-gathering powers, they've been able to ask questions for years. CARF just makes it systematic.

The takeaway isn't panic. It's timing. You've got a window to get your records straight — including any past years you weren't careful about — before the automated data lands.

How crypto is actually taxed in NZ

This is where we diverge from most of the world.

New Zealand doesn't have a general capital gains tax. People hear that and assume crypto is tax-free. It isn't.

If you're buying and selling crypto to make a profit, IRD treats those profits as ordinary income — the same bucket as your salary. That means:

• Your trading profit stacks on top of your other income
• It's taxed at NZ marginal rates, not a flat CGT rate
• There's no discount for holding longer than a year (that's an Australian thing)

NZ marginal rates (2025–26)

| Income | Rate |

|---|---|

| $0 – $15,600 | 10.5% |

| $15,601 – $53,500 | 17.5% |

| $53,501 – $78,100 | 30% |

| $78,101 – $180,000 | 33% |

| $180,001+ | 39% |

Earn $60,000 at your job and make $20,000 trading, and you're taxed on $80,000 — each slice at its own rate, with the top of that sitting in the 30% band. This is exactly why Koinly and the other US/AU tools get NZ numbers wrong: they're built around a capital gains model we don't use.

What's taxable, what's not

IRD's line is simple enough: if you're acquiring crypto to sell it at a profit, the profit is income.

Taxable:

• Buying and selling for profit, however often
• Swapping one coin for another (yes, that's a disposal)
• Crypto received as payment for goods or services
• Staking and mining rewards, in most cases

Usually not taxable (but the edges get murky — ask an accountant):

• Genuinely long-term holdings bought with no resale intent
• Gifts received
• Moving coins between your own wallets

The deciding factor is intent. If you're timing the market, you're trading, and IRD will see the gains as income.

Working out what you owe

1. Pull every transaction — each buy, sell and swap, with the date.
2. Convert each one to NZD using the RBNZ mid-rate for that date. Not your exchange's figure, not XE, not Google. This is the step almost everyone gets wrong, and it's the one IRD will check. RBNZ publishes historical rates going back years.
3. Net it off — total gains minus total losses for the year. A rough month offsets a good one; you're taxed on the net.
4. Apply any carried-forward losses. A net loss from an earlier year reduces this year's profit, with no time limit on how far back it can come from.
5. Add it to your other income and apply the marginal rates above.

The manual version of step 2 is brutal across hundreds of trades — looking up a separate rate for every date. TradeLog NZ does that lookup automatically, which is honestly why it exists.

What that looks like with real numbers

Say you had a handful of disposals over the year. Remember a crypto-to-crypto swap counts as a disposal — you don't need to cash out to NZD to trigger tax.

| Disposal | Date | Result (USD) | RBNZ rate (NZD per US$1) | Result (NZD) |

|---|---|---:|---:|---:|

| ETH → USDC swap | 15 May 2025 | +4,000 | 1.68 | +6,720 |

| Sold 0.1 BTC | 2 Aug 2025 | +5,000 | 1.66 | +8,300 |

| Sold SOL (loss) | 10 Nov 2025 | −1,200 | 1.70 | −2,040 |

| BTC → ETH swap | 5 Feb 2026 | +4,300 | 1.63 | +7,009 |

| Net for the year | | | | +19,989 |

That ~$20,000 net is what's taxable. It stacks on top of your salary and is taxed at your marginal rate, exactly like the $60k + $20k example above — the November loss offsets the gains automatically because you're taxed on the net, not on each winning trade. The one non-negotiable is that each line uses the RBNZ rate for its own date, not one rate applied at year end.

What you can deduct

If you're trading as a business — which most active traders are — you can knock off the genuine costs of doing it:

• Exchange and trading fees
• Charting subscriptions like TradingView
• The trading-use share of your home office
• Accountant fees

Keep the receipts. IRD can ask you to back any of it up.

A quick word on GST

Crypto trading itself is a financial service, so it's GST-exempt — you don't charge GST on your trading profits. If you've got other income on the side (selling a course, running a paid signal group) and that crosses $60,000 of turnover in any 12 months, that's when GST registration comes into play.

What I'd do right now

If your 7 July IR3 is looming and your crypto records are a mess:

1. Download your full history for the 2025–26 year (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026) from every platform you used.
2. Convert it all to NZD at RBNZ rates — by hand or with a tool.
3. Work out your net profit, apply any prior-year losses, and put it on your IR3 under self-employment or other income (an accountant can tell you which fits).
4. Check provisional tax. If last year's residual income tax topped $5,000, you're likely into provisional instalments already.
5. If past years were wrong, fix them before CARF data lands. IRD treats a voluntary disclosure far more gently than something it finds itself — and from 2027, it'll have the data to find it.

That last point is the real reason to act now rather than in 2027.

How TradeLog NZ fits in

It's the tool I wished existed: import your exchange CSVs, it matches every transaction to the right RBNZ rate, calculates your NZD profit using actual NZ rules, carries your losses forward year to year, and produces a tax summary your accountant can work straight from. Free to start, no card needed; the Pro plan ($39/month) adds the PDF export and accountant link.

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This is general information, not tax advice. Everyone's situation is different and the rules change. Talk to a qualified NZ accountant before you file. TradeLog NZ takes no responsibility for errors in your return.

Links: IRD Crypto Assets | CARF at IRD | RBNZ Exchange Rates