2026 ITR Season Exposes Crypto Investors' Tax Reporting Gaps

In India, people who buy or sell cryptocurrency have to tell the government about it when they file their taxes.

The government takes a small part of the money from these trades in advance, called TDS.

Many people thought that once this money was taken, they were done with their taxes.

But that's not true — they still need to file an income tax return.

A tax expert named Punit Agarwal says only about 21 out of every 100 people who had this money taken actually went on to file their returns.

When people don't file, they might owe more tax, or they might miss getting a refund of the money that was taken from them.

Fortunately, people who missed the first deadline can still file a belated return, though they might have to pay a late fee.

There are different forms for different situations — one for regular investors and another for people who trade a lot.

All crypto income, like rewards for holding coins or free coins from airdrops, must be reported in a special section called Schedule VDA.

If they file properly, investors can still get their TDS refunds back.