Crypto Capital Gains Calculator
Enter what you paid, what you sold for and the two dates. See the gain or loss, how long you held it and how much of it each country counts.
Result
Gain +$500.00
Short-term- Held
- 365 days
- Term
- Short-term: becomes long-term for sales on or after 2025-03-02
Long-term and short-term gains go in different parts of Form 8949 and are taxed at different rates.
Rule source: IRS Topic 409: capital gains and losses
Get a full report from your exchange files →Calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to our servers. How it works
Figures for general information, not tax advice. Disclaimer
How to work out the gain on one crypto sale
A capital gain is the difference between what you got for an asset and what it cost you. For one trade that’s simple subtraction, but the date rules aren’t: the US asks whether you held for more than a year, Australia whether you held for at least 12 months, Germany whether the sale was within one year, and Canada and the UK don’t care about the holding period at all. This calculator applies each country’s counting rule to your two dates. For a full report from your exchange files, use the crypto tax calculator instead, because one trade in isolation can’t apply matching or pooling rules.
- 1
Choose a country
Pick the US, UK, Canada, Australia or Germany, or “Other” for a plain gain and holding period.
- 2
Enter the trade
Cost including purchase fees, proceeds after sale fees, and the purchase and sale dates. Quantity is optional.
- 3
Read the result
The gain or loss, days held, and what your country does with it, with a link to the official source.
What you get
- Gain or loss on a single sale, with sign and label
- Holding period in days, counted the way each country counts it
- US short-term or long-term classification
- Australia 50% CGT discount check
- Canada taxable capital gain at the one-half inclusion rate
- Germany one-year rule and the €1,000 Freigrenze
- UK tax year and annual exempt amount for the sale date
What happens to what you type
This calculator is small enough to run directly on this page. The arithmetic happens in your browser; nothing you type is sent to our servers, and nothing is stored once you leave. Unlike the report workspace, it isn’t in a separate isolated frame, because it only takes a few numbers rather than your transaction history.
One trade in each country
The same idea, four sets of rules. These are the calculator’s own test cases.
| Country | Trade | Result |
|---|---|---|
| US | Buy 2024-03-01 for $1,000, sell 2025-03-01 for $1,500 | +$500 gain, short-term (not more than one year). Sell on 2025-03-02 and it’s long-term. |
| Canada | A gain of $3,000 | Taxable capital gain $1,500 at the one-half inclusion rate |
| Australia | Buy 2023-07-01 for A$30,000, sell 2024-07-03 for A$90,000 | +A$60,000 gain, held at least 12 months, discounted to A$30,000 |
| Germany | Buy 2025-01-10, sell 2025-09-10 with an €800 gain | Within one year, so a private sale, but under the €1,000 Freigrenze if it’s your only one |
If you enter a sale date before the purchase date, the calculator shows an error and no result.
Holding periods compared
| Country | Rule | How the days are counted |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Long-term if held more than one year | From the day after acquisition up to and including the sale date (IRS Topic 409) |
| Australia | 50% discount if owned at least 12 months (resident individuals) | Excluding the day of acquisition and the day of the CGT event (ATO) |
| Germany | Tax-free if held more than one year | Period between acquisition and sale (§23 EStG) |
| Canada | No holding-period rule | Half of any capital gain is taxable (CRA) |
| United Kingdom | No holding-period rule | Gains are added up per tax year; £3,000 annual exempt amount for 2024-25 and 2025-26 (gov.uk) |
In practice the US, Australian and German tests all switch on the same day: one year and one day after you bought. A purchase on 1 March qualifies when sold on 2 March of the following year.
Why one trade isn’t the whole story
Real holdings are rarely a single purchase and a single sale. In the UK, HMRC’s same-day and 30-day rules can match your sale with a purchase made after it, and everything else is pooled at an average cost; in Canada the cost is averaged across all your identical coins. Fees, swaps and transfers between wallets all change the cost too. For your actual return, import your files into the UK, US, Canada, Australia or Germany calculator.
Good to know
- Include fees. Add purchase fees to the cost and take sale fees off the proceeds; most tax authorities treat them that way.
- Use your home currency. Enter amounts in the currency your tax authority uses, valued on the dates of the trade.
- No tax estimate. The calculator shows the gain and the part that counts, not the tax, because rates depend on your other income.
- Swaps are sales. If you swapped one coin for another, the “proceeds” are the market value of what you received.
CryptoTaxOwl produces figures for general information. It isn’t tax, legal or financial advice, and it can only be as complete as the files you import. Check the warnings in this report, keep your own records, and speak to a qualified tax adviser if you’re unsure. You are responsible for what you file.
Related calculators and guides
- Crypto cost basis methods: FIFO, LIFO, HIFO and average cost comparedOne set of trades under four methods, and which method the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Germany allow.
- UK crypto tax: the same-day, 30-day and Section 104 rules explainedHMRC’s three matching rules, in order, with the official worked examples restated step by step.
- Form 8949 for crypto: Form 1099-DA, boxes G–L and wallet-by-wallet basisThe digital-asset boxes, what your broker reports for 2025 and 2026, and why basis is now tracked per wallet.
Questions people ask
How is a crypto capital gain calculated?
Proceeds (what you received, after sale fees) minus cost (what you paid, including purchase fees). A negative result is a capital loss.
What makes a crypto gain long-term in the US?
Holding it for more than one year. The count starts the day after you bought it, so a coin bought on March 1, 2024 becomes long-term when sold on March 2, 2025 or later.
How much of a crypto gain is taxed in Canada?
Half. The taxable capital gain is one-half of the capital gain, and it’s added to your income for the year.
Do I get the CGT discount in Australia?
If you’re an Australian resident individual and owned the crypto for at least 12 months, not counting the purchase and sale days, you can reduce the gain by 50% after applying any capital losses.
Is a short-term gain taxed in Germany?
A gain on crypto sold within one year is a private sale. It’s tax-free only if your total gains from private sales in the year are under €1,000; at €1,000 or more, all of it is taxable.