Australia’s federal Treasury has launched a new consultation on draft legislation that would require crypto asset platforms operating in the country to report customer transactions to the Australian Taxation Office, a move designed to bring domestic law into line with the OECD’s Crypto Asset Reporting Framework. The measure, published for public input on October 17, 2026, would create a legal duty for crypto service providers to disclose specified transaction and identifying information about Australian residents to the ATO. The consultation also proposes a broader expansion of existing international tax transparency rules to capture new digital instruments including certain e money products, potential retail central bank digital currencies, and derivatives that reference crypto assets. Why this matters Governments worldwide are pushing for more data sharing between crypto platforms and tax authorities so that cross border transfers of digital assets do not become a conduit for undeclared income and tax avoidance. For Australia, which has already introduced a staged regulatory framework for digital assets and begun licensing work for trading and custody platforms, the new reporting regime marks the next step in implementing the global CARF standard locally. Treasury officials say bringing CARF into Australian law will allow the ATO to receive automatic exchanges of crypto asset transaction data from partner jurisdictions and to require domestic platforms to report transactions involving Australian residents. That dual approach responds to two separate risks: undeclared domestic activity and the movement of Australian taxpayer assets through overseas platforms that fall outside Australian reporting obligations. What the draft would change Under the proposed text, crypto asset service providers would face an obligation to collect and provide a defined set of data points, including customer identity details and information on transfers, trades and conversions. The draft also contemplates a domestic reporting pathway, so transactions involving Australian residents could be reported directly to the ATO even where counterparties are offshore. The exposure draft does not simply mirror the OECD model. It also updates Australia’s Common Reporting Standard rules to expressly include a wider set of digital instruments, and includes drafting intended to capture evolving products such as tokenised e money and derivatives that reference crypto. Treasury officials are seeking views on timing, data fields, and operational safeguards, including how to protect privacy and reduce compliance costs for smaller platforms. Industry and regulator context The consultation arrives amid a broader Australian policy programme that has already reshaped the crypto regulatory perimeter. Earlier this year Parliament enacted a digital assets framework to bring trading platforms and tokenised custodians into a licensing regime. The Reserve Bank of Australia has continued work on tokenisation in wholesale markets and on whether a retail central bank digital currency would be appropriate. Together, those initiatives create a policy stack of licensing, payments research and now tax information reporting. Crypto firms and industry groups are likely to press for clear implementation timetables, simplified reporting fields and transitional relief, while tax and revenue experts argue that robust automatic exchange will be essential to curb avoidance and close the information gap that exists for cross border crypto flows. Timeline and next steps Treasury has opened the consultation with submissions invited through the public consult hub. The draft materials published on October 17, 2026 include the exposure draft legislation and an explanatory memorandum that set out Treasury’s preferred approach and outline likely commencement dates if the measures are adopted. Respondents are being invited to comment on technical drafting and practical implementation questions. Treasury will consider feedback before finalising any government bill for Parliament. What to watch Key points to monitor during the consultation and any subsequent drafting are the final scope of reportable transactions, the effective date for domestic reporting obligations, and whether smaller or offshore-only intermediaries will be given phased compliance timelines. The practical burden of collecting identity information from decentralised or noncustodial services is another flashpoint, since enforcing reporting where users hold private keys will be operationally challenging. For taxpayers, the change signals that the ATO can expect significantly more visibility into crypto flows by mid 2027 if the legislative timetable and international exchanges proceed on commonly signalled timelines. For industry participants, the measures will raise compliance costs but also reduce uncertainty by aligning domestic law with an emerging global standard for crypto tax transparency. How to participate Submissions on the draft exposure are being accepted through Treasury’s consultation portal. The draft package published on October 17, 2026 sets out deadlines for written feedback and contact points for technical queries. Stakeholders are advised to review the exposure draft and the explanatory memorandum carefully and to consider how proposed data collection and reporting processes will work in practice.