If your Indian crypto exchange recently asked you to confirm where you pay tax, that isn’t a random KYC refresh. It comes from a rule that took effect on 1 April 2026, and it’s the Indian version of the global crypto tax data swap that Hong Kong signed up to today.
What Hong Kong passed today
On 4 November, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passed the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and Amended Common Reporting Standard) Bill 2026, the government said. The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) is an OECD standard, published in 2023, under which tax authorities swap crypto transaction data every year. Hong Kong’s platforms start collecting the data in 2027, and its tax office begins exchanging it with partner jurisdictions in 2028.
India already collects the same data
India got there first on collection and is behind on sharing. Section 285BAA, inserted by the Finance Act, 2025 with effect from 1 April 2026, requires prescribed reporting entities to file statements on crypto transactions. Under the new Income-tax Act, 2025 the same duty is Section 509, worked out in rules 241 to 244 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026.
According to KPMG’s summary of the CBDT guidance note, the main points are:
- Exchanges, brokers, trading platforms and crypto ATM operators report. The duty sits with them, not with investors.
- New users give a tax-residency self-certification at sign-up, before any reportable trade.
- Users who joined by 31 December 2025 must be covered within 12 months from 1 January 2026. That’s why the prompt is showing up now.
- The exchange checks your answer against its KYC file. If the two don’t match, it can withhold service until you give a valid form or a documented explanation.
- Form 167 is due by 31 May of the following year, so the first one, for calendar 2026, is due by 31 May 2027. Records must be kept for seven tax years.
Who actually gets reported
This is the part most explainers skip. Based on rules 241 and 243, as set out in this rule-by-rule breakdown, Form 167 covers users who are tax resident outside India. It does not cover individuals who are resident only in India.
| Who you are | In Form 167? | How the tax department already sees you |
|---|---|---|
| Resident Indian individual | No | 1% TDS on sales shows up in your tax credit statement; you report gains in Schedule VDA |
| NRI or dual resident using an Indian exchange | Yes, with each foreign residence and tax ID | Plus TDS on sales |
| Indian company or trust with a controlling person abroad | Yes, unless it’s an excluded or active entity | Plus TDS |
So for most Indian readers, the self-certification is a box to tick honestly. For NRIs it matters more, because the form collects a tax ID for every foreign residence. Our NRI crypto tax calculator shows the Indian side of that bill.
Collecting versus sharing: a timeline
| Jurisdiction | Platforms collect from | First exchange with partners |
|---|---|---|
| EU (DAC8) | 1 January 2026 | Already applying |
| UK | 1 January 2026 | First report by 31 May 2027 |
| India | Calendar year 2026 | Not committed yet |
| Hong Kong | 2027 | 2028 |
| Singapore | 1 January 2027 | First return by 31 May 2028 |
India, UK, EU and Singapore rows are from the same breakdown above; Hong Kong is from its government statement.
The same breakdown says the OECD’s list of 14 September 2026 shows 77 jurisdictions committed to CARF, and that India is not yet among them. So for now, India collects the data for its own use. Indian data doesn’t flow out automatically, and data from Hong Kong or Dubai platforms doesn’t flow in automatically.
BtcMedia verdict
Nothing in the tax you owe changes. What changes is how easy it is to check. Resident traders were already visible through TDS. NRIs now appear by name, residence and tax ID in a yearly filing, valued in rupees, net of fees, at the time of each trade. The cheapest response is a clean record: match your exchange TDS with our TDS reconciliation tool, work out your bill with the crypto tax calculator, and confirm your exchange is on the FIU-IND registered list.
FAQ
Do I have to fill the tax-residency form on my exchange? Yes, if your exchange asks. The rules let it pause service when it can’t get a valid self-certification or a documented explanation.
Will my trades be reported to the tax department because I’m an Indian resident? Not through Form 167, which covers users resident abroad. Your sales are already visible through the 1% TDS the exchange deducts, and you report gains yourself in Schedule VDA.
Does Hong Kong’s law mean my Hong Kong exchange will share my data with India? Not automatically for now. Hong Kong swaps data only with partner jurisdictions from 2028, and India hasn’t committed to CARF exchanges yet.
How we checked this: Hong Kong government statement of 4 November 2026, Finance Act 2025 Section 90, KPMG’s note on the CBDT guidance, and a rule-by-rule breakdown citing rules 241-244, read at about 9 PM IST. This is not financial or tax advice; confirm your own case with a chartered accountant.