Getting started
Do I pay taxes on memecoin trades?
In most countries, yes. The detail that catches people out is that a token-to-token swap is usually a taxable disposal even though no money reached your bank: swapping SOL for a memecoin can create a gain or loss on the SOL. That means a year of active trading produces a long list of events, and reconstructing them afterwards is far harder than recording them as you go.
What is commonly treated as an event
- Selling a token for SOL, USDC or fiat.
- Swapping one token directly for another, in most jurisdictions.
- Spending crypto on goods or services.
- Receiving tokens as income, an airdrop or a reward, often at their value on receipt.
Record these from the first trade
- Date and time of every buy and sell.
- The amount and the price in your local currency at that moment.
- Fees paid, including network fees, which are often deductible.
- The transaction signature, so any entry can be verified against the chain later.
The one that surprises people
In some jurisdictions you can owe tax on gains realised earlier in a year even if you later lost it all, because the disposals and the losses can fall in different periods or be treated differently. That is exactly the situation worth asking a professional about before it becomes a problem rather than after.
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