India’s tax authorities introduce comprehensive guidance for crypto-asset service providers to align with OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, affecting exchanges and investors alike amid ongoing digital asset taxation reforms.
India’s tax authorities have published new guidance to help crypto-asset service providers comply with a reporting regime built around the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, or CARF. The Central Board of Direct Taxes said the note is intended to translate the statutory rules into practical steps for reporting entities, while leaving the underlying tax treatment of digital assets unchanged. According to LiveMint, the existing regime of a 30% tax on gains and a 1% tax deducted at source remains in place. The guidance is aimed at exchanges, custodians and other intermediaries that handle transactions across borders and outside the traditional banking system.
The note focuses on Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers, or RCASPs, and sets out who falls within scope, which assets must be reported and how reporting ties are resolved when more than one jurisdiction could claim the same obligation. The material provided by the board says the framework covers cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, marketplace NFTs and crypto derivatives, while excluding central bank digital currencies, certain e-money products and assets that cannot be used for payment or investment. It also says software developers, passive funds and node validators are outside the reporting net unless they are conducting exchange services as a business.
Under the guidance, an RCASP must identify reportable users, carry out due diligence and file annual information returns using Form 167. The board’s note, as summarised by business publication reports, links the compliance rules to Section 509 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and Rules 241 to 244 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026. The filing will be based on the calendar year from January 1, 2026, with reports due by May 31 of the following year. New users onboarded on or after January 1, 2026 must provide self-certification at entry, while existing users as of December 31, 2025 get a 12-month transition period.
The practical effect is likely to be felt most sharply by exchanges and their customers. LiveMint said the note underscores the need for investors to keep detailed records because tax authorities will receive transaction-level data directly from exchanges each year. That makes consistency between exchange records and income tax returns more important, particularly for purchases, sales, transfers and wallet movements. In policy terms, the guidance brings India into a broader system of automatic crypto data exchange designed to close transparency gaps that earlier regimes such as FATCA and the Common Reporting Standard did not cover.
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