VDAs Tax India: What You Need to Know About Virtual Digital Assets Tax Rules
When you trade Virtual Digital Assets, digital assets like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and tokenized assets that India legally defines as taxable property. Also known as VDAs, these are treated as property, not currency, under India’s 2022 tax law. That means every time you sell, trade, or spend Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even an NFT, you owe tax—no exceptions.
The VDAs tax, a flat 30% rate on gains from selling or exchanging digital assets, introduced in India’s 2022 budget applies to all users, whether you’re a casual trader or someone who mines crypto. Unlike stocks, you can’t offset losses against other income. If you bought Bitcoin for ₹5 lakh and sold it for ₹8 lakh, you pay 30% tax on the ₹3 lakh profit—even if you lost money on other trades. The government also added a 1% TDS on every crypto transaction over ₹10,000, meaning exchanges automatically withhold tax at the time of sale. This isn’t a suggestion—it’s enforced. The Income Tax Department tracks wallet addresses and exchange data through reporting rules.
Crypto tax reporting, the process of declaring VDA transactions to India’s tax authorities using ITR-2 forms is mandatory. You must keep records of every purchase, sale, and transfer—including dates, amounts, and wallet addresses. Even airdrops and staking rewards count as income and must be reported. Many people think holding crypto without selling avoids tax, but that’s wrong. Tax triggers on disposal, not holding. If you swap ETH for SOL, that’s a taxable event. If you use Bitcoin to buy a laptop, that’s taxable too. The rules don’t care if you’re making a profit or just moving assets around.
India’s approach is strict, but it’s clear. There’s no grandfathering, no exemption for small traders, and no loophole for DeFi swaps. The government’s goal isn’t to ban crypto—it’s to control and tax it. That’s why you’ll see posts in this collection about VDAs tax India, how exchanges like Swyftx handle tax reports, what happens when you don’t file, and how other countries like Brazil and Nigeria compare. You’ll also find real cases where people got hit with penalties for missing filings, and how to use tools to track your trades automatically. This isn’t about speculation. It’s about compliance. And if you’re trading crypto in India, you need to know exactly where you stand.