To file ITR with crypto income in India, use ITR-2 (salaried without business income) or ITR-3 (with business income), fill in Schedule VDA for each trade, claim your 1% TDS credit under Schedule TDS, and e-verify by July 31, 2025 for FY 2024-25. You cannot use ITR-1 if you have any crypto income.
- Form to use: ITR-2 (no business income) or ITR-3 (with business/professional income)
- Key schedule: Schedule VDA — enter each trade with date acquired, date sold, cost of acquisition, and sale proceeds
- TDS credit: Claimed in Schedule TDS; pre-filled from Form 26AS (Section 194S entries)
- Deadline: July 31, 2025 for FY 2024-25 (non-audit cases)
- Verify first: Cross-check your AIS (Annual Information Statement) before filing to avoid mismatches
Here is a step-by-step walkthrough of the entire filing process, field by field.
Step 1: Choose the Right ITR Form
If you have crypto income, you can not file ITR-1 (Sahaj). That form is only for salaried individuals with total income up to ₹50 lakh and no crypto whatsoever.
Your options are:
- ITR-2: For individuals who have salary, capital gains, crypto income, and other sources — but no business or professional income. If you're a salaried employee who also trades crypto, this is most likely your form.
- ITR-3: For individuals who have business or professional income in addition to everything above. If you're a freelancer, run a business, or if you're treating your futures trading as business income, you'll need ITR-3.
Here's a quick test: Do you have a business or profession? No? Go with ITR-2. Yes? ITR-3. Both forms have Schedule VDA, which is where your crypto data goes.
Step 2: Gather Your Data Before You Start
Before you even open the tax portal, you'll need:
- Trade-by-trade breakdown: For each sale/transfer — date acquired, date sold, cost of acquisition, sale proceeds, and the resulting income. You'll need to compute this using the FIFO method.
- TDS details: Total 1% TDS deducted across all Indian exchanges. You can verify this in Form 26AS or your Annual Information Statement (AIS).
- Exchange trade reports: Download these from CoinDCX, WazirX, Binance, etc. You'll need them if you get a notice.
- Form 16 (if salaried) and any other income documents.
If you have hundreds of trades, running them through CryptoITR first will give you the computed values you need for Schedule VDA — saves you hours of spreadsheet work.
Step 3: Log In and Start Filing
Head to incometax.gov.in and log in with your PAN. Navigate to e-File → Income Tax Returns → File Income Tax Return. Select the assessment year (AY 2025-26 for FY 2024-25) and choose ITR-2 or ITR-3 as applicable.
You can file online (recommended for most people) or upload a JSON generated from the offline utility. The online method pre-fills a lot of your data from AIS/TIS, which makes things faster.
Step 4: Fill Out Schedule VDA
This is the crypto-specific schedule. Here's what each column means:
- Sl. No.: Serial number for each transaction (1, 2, 3...)
- Type of VDA / Coin/Token: Name of the asset — e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana. Use the standard name, not the ticker.
- Date of Transfer: The date you sold or exchanged the asset.
- Date of Acquisition: The date you originally bought it. If you bought in multiple lots (FIFO matching), use the date of the specific lot being matched.
- Head under which income is to be reported: Select "115BBH" — this routes it to the 30% flat tax.
- Cost of Acquisition: What you paid for the portion being sold. If you bought 1 BTC for ₹10,00,000 and sold 0.5 BTC, the cost of acquisition for this row is ₹5,00,000.
- Consideration/Sale Value: The amount you received from the sale.
- Income from transfer of VDA: Sale Value minus Cost of Acquisition. If it's a loss, enter the loss (the system will still tax only the gains).
Let me show you a quick example. Say you had three trades:
- Sold 0.1 BTC on Jan 15, 2025: Bought Aug 10, 2024 for ₹2,50,000 → Sold for ₹3,40,000 → Income: ₹90,000
- Sold 5 SOL on Feb 1, 2025: Bought Nov 20, 2024 for ₹45,000 → Sold for ₹62,000 → Income: ₹17,000
- Sold 1000 DOGE on Mar 5, 2025: Bought Oct 5, 2024 for ₹12,000 → Sold for ₹9,000 → Income: -₹3,000
You'd enter all three rows. The total income from VDA transfer would be ₹90,000 + ₹17,000 = ₹1,07,000. The DOGE loss of ₹3,000 is reported but cannot reduce your taxable amount — you still pay 30% on ₹1,07,000.
What If You Have Hundreds of Trades?
The tax portal does allow you to add many rows, but entering 500+ trades one by one isn't practical. Two options:
- Aggregate per asset: Some CAs recommend grouping all Bitcoin trades into one row, all Ethereum into another, etc. This is acceptable as long as your total numbers reconcile with AIS/26AS data.
- Use the offline JSON utility: You can prepare the data in Excel, convert it to the required JSON format, and upload it. Much faster for high-volume traders.
Step 5: Where the VDA Income Shows Up
After filling Schedule VDA, the total income automatically flows to the relevant section:
- In ITR-2: It appears under "Schedule OS" (Other Sources) or the designated VDA section, depending on the portal version
- The 30% tax is computed automatically in the "Tax Computation" section
- You'll see it as a separate line item — it doesn't mix with your slab-rate income
Step 6: Claim Your TDS Credit
This is the part people often miss. If Indian exchanges deducted 1% TDS on your sells, that TDS is your money — you've already prepaid part of your tax.
Go to Schedule TDS in the ITR form. You'll see TDS details pre-filled from Form 26AS. Verify that:
- The TAN of each exchange is listed (e.g., CoinDCX, WazirX each have their own TAN)
- The total TDS amount matches what you see in 26AS / AIS
- The section code shows 194S (that's the crypto TDS section)
If any TDS entries are missing from the pre-filled data, you can manually add them — but make sure the exchange has actually deposited the TDS with the government (verify in 26AS). Don't claim TDS that isn't reflected there.
Step 7: Verify Against AIS (Annual Information Statement)
Before hitting submit, cross-check your AIS. The tax department receives data from exchanges, and your AIS will show:
- Total sale proceeds from crypto transactions
- TDS deducted under Section 194S
- Sometimes individual high-value transactions
If there's a mismatch between what you're reporting and what AIS shows, investigate before filing. Common reasons for mismatches include:
- Trades on international exchanges (Binance, KuCoin) that don't report to Indian authorities — you still need to report the income
- Timing differences in how exchanges report quarterly vs your actual trade dates
- P2P trades that may not have TDS deducted
You can provide feedback on AIS entries if you think they're incorrect, but always report your actual income regardless of what AIS shows.
Step 8: Compute Tax, Pay Balance, and Submit
Once everything is filled in:
- Review the tax computation page — your VDA income should show the 30% + cess calculation
- Check that TDS credits are reducing your total tax payable
- If you owe additional tax, pay it via Challan 280 (select the correct assessment year and type of payment)
- After payment, enter the challan details in the ITR
- Submit and e-verify (Aadhaar OTP is the easiest method)
That's it. You've filed your ITR with crypto income. Keep your exchange trade reports, computation worksheets, and bank statements for at least 7 years — the tax department can reopen assessments going back that far.
Filing Tips From the Trenches
- File early. The portal crashes constantly in the last week of July.
- If your tax liability exceeded ₹10,000 and you didn't pay advance tax, you'll owe interest under Section 234B/C. Budget for it.
- If you're unsure about futures treatment (115BBH vs business income), consult a CA. The law is ambiguous here, and the safer approach depends on your specific situation.
- Always download a PDF of your filed return. Keep it forever.