Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last reviewed 11 August 2026
Calculate 30% VDA tax, surcharge, cess, disallowed losses and indicative 1% TDS using transaction-level acquisition cost.
Calculate VDA income, tax and indicative TDS
Indicative VDA computation
Only cost of acquisition is deducted. Transfer losses are not set off against other income or another VDA gain.
Taxable VDA income
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Tax plus surcharge and cess
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Measure
Amount
Disallowed transfer losses
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Other expenses ignored
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Indicative 1% TDS on current consideration
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Tax after indicative TDS credit
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How This Is Calculated
Gains from Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) — cryptocurrency, NFTs and similar assets — are taxed at a flat 30% rate (plus applicable surcharge and cess), regardless of holding period (no long-term/short-term distinction). Crucially, losses from one VDA cannot be set off against gains from another VDA, or against any other income, and cannot be carried forward — each VDA's gain is taxed in isolation, with losses simply not usable to reduce tax.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the tax rate on cryptocurrency gains in India?
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A flat 30% tax rate applies to gains from Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs), plus applicable surcharge and health & education cess — regardless of how long the asset was held, unlike equity or other capital assets which distinguish short-term from long-term.
Can I set off crypto losses against crypto gains or other income?
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No. Losses from one VDA cannot be set off against gains from another VDA, nor against any other head of income (salary, other capital gains, etc.), and cannot be carried forward to future years — this is a specific, strict rule unique to VDA taxation.
Is there TDS on cryptocurrency transactions?
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Yes, under Section 194S, TDS at 1% applies on payment for transfer of VDAs above specified threshold limits, deducted by the person making the payment (typically the exchange, for exchange-facilitated trades).
Can I deduct the cost of acquisition when calculating VDA gains?
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Yes, the cost of acquisition can be deducted from the sale consideration to arrive at the gain. However, no other expenses (like transaction/gas fees in some interpretations) beyond cost of acquisition are deductible — this is stricter than the expense deductions allowed for other capital assets.
Source and review trail
Use the current official instrument, portal or regulator publication before acting. This panel separates the category authority from page-specific references.
Scope: Computes tax on Virtual Digital Assets (crypto/VDA) transactions under Section 115BBH (flat 30% rate) and TDS under Section 194S, per the specific VDA taxation regime.
Calculation logic
Tax on VDA gains = 30% flat rate (plus applicable surcharge and cess) on the gain (Sale consideration − Cost of acquisition only; no deduction for any expenditure other than cost of acquisition is permitted under Section 115BBH, and no indexation benefit applies regardless of holding period).
Loss from one VDA transaction cannot be set off against gain from another VDA transaction, and VDA losses cannot be set off against income from any other source or carried forward — each VDA transaction's gain is taxed in isolation, per the specific restriction in Section 115BBH.
TDS under Section 194S: 1% of the transaction value, deducted by the exchange (for exchange-facilitated transactions) or by the buyer (for peer-to-peer/off-exchange transactions, subject to the specified threshold), creditable against the seller's final tax liability.
Inputs and assumptions
The 30% flat rate, no-loss-set-off restriction, and no-indexation rule apply uniformly to VDA gains regardless of holding period (i.e., there is no separate short-term/long-term distinction for VDAs, unlike other capital assets) — the calculator applies this VDA-specific regime rather than standard capital-gains rules.
TDS thresholds under Section 194S (₹50,000/year for specified persons, ₹10,000/year for others, per current provision) determine when TDS deduction is triggered — the calculator applies the correct threshold based on the payer category.
Exclusions and edge cases
Gifting of VDAs and receipt of VDAs as gift have separate taxability rules under Section 56(2)(x) (as 'property' for gift-taxation purposes) which interact with, but are distinct from, the Section 115BBH sale-gain computation — see the Gift Taxability Checker for the gift-receipt-side computation.
Does not compute GST implications for VDA transactions conducted as a business activity — this calculator is scoped to the income-tax treatment of VDA gains and TDS.