India's crypto tax rules are famously strict, and pleading ignorance is expensive because exchanges report everything. If you traded any virtual digital asset this year, here is exactly what you signed up for.
The flat 30%
Gains from transferring any virtual digital asset, crypto coins, tokens, NFTs, are taxed at a flat 30% plus cess, regardless of your slab or how long you held. No indexation, and the only deduction allowed against the sale is your cost of acquisition. Exchange fees, electricity, that trading course: none of it is deductible.
The rule that hurts most: no set off
Losses from one crypto cannot be set off against gains from another. Made Rs 1 lakh on Bitcoin and lost Rs 80,000 on another token? You still pay 30% on the full Rs 1 lakh, and the loss cannot carry forward either. Budget for tax on gross wins, not net results.
The 1% TDS trail
Every sale above small thresholds suffers 1% TDS under Section 194S, which is exactly how the department knows your trading volume. That TDS is a credit you claim back in your return, one more reason filing correctly helps you.
Reporting it
Crypto goes into Schedule VDA, transaction by transaction, which pushes you into ITR-2 or ITR-3. Mention crypto in your Saathi.Tax notes and we flag the return for our expert review plan, because this is one area where a second pair of eyes genuinely pays for itself.
