Selling digital currency

If you sold digital currency such as bitcoins during the income year, a gain or loss may have arisen that you must declare in the tax return. You can read more about how you should assess the value here.

There are various digital tools and websites to help you calculate gains and losses. If you use these, you must ensure that the calculations are correct according to Norwegian rules.

What you must do

You’ll get information about how many bitcoin and other digitial currencies you’ve purchased/sold and the dates from your intermediary, crypto exchange, marketplace or the like.

You must calculate the gain or loss as of the transaction date.

You can find out whether a gain or loss has arisen by calculating the difference between the input value and the output value.

The input value must be calculated using different methods depending on whether you've:

Paid for digital currency using ordinary currency

Input value = What you paid as of the transaction date, including transaction costs. 
You must declare the value in Norwegian kroner using the exchange rates applicable as of the date of sale.

Example

Input value in Norwegian kroner = (number of digital units x exchange rate for the digital currency) x USD exchange rate + (transaction cost x USD exchange rate if the transaction cost is in USD)

  • You purchased 1.32 bitcoins on 13 October 2020
  • The bitcoin exchange rate at the time was USD 11.471.38
  • The USD/NOK exchange rate was 9.1561
  • The transaction costs per transaction were USD 3.

Input value in Norwegian kroner: (1.32 x 11.471.38) x 9.1561 + (3 x 9.1561) = NOK 138.671,17

Paid for digital currency using other digital currency

Input value = The value of the digital payment currency in Norwegian kroner as of the date of purchase.

Mined/extracted digital currency yourself

Input value = The market value of the digital currency at the time of mining

The fee you receive upon realisation, minus your transaction costs, constitutes the output value.

If the fee is a different digital currency, you should calculate the output value based on the value of the digital payment currency in Norwegian kroner as of the transaction date.

If you own several units of the same digital currency, you must decide which unit has actually been realised and what the input value was for that specific unit.

You do not necessarily have to sell the units in the same order that you bought them. In other words, the FIFO (First In, First Out) principle does not apply, as it does for shares, for example.

Example

Output value in Norwegian kroner = (number of digital units x exchange rate for the digital currency) x USD exchange rate - (transaction cost x USD exchange rate if the transaction cost is in USD).

  • You sold 1.32 bitcoins on 14 December 2020.
  • The bitcoin exchange rate was USD 19.086,07 on 14 December 2020.
  • The USD/NOK exchange rate was 8.7019 on 14 December 2020.
  • The transaction costs per transaction amounted to USD 21.7.

The output value in Norwegian kroner will be 
(1.32 x 1.086,07) x 8.7019 - (21.7 x 8.7019) = NOK 219.043,46

Assessing gain/loss in Norwegian kroner

The gain/loss must be assessed in Norwegian kroner at the time of the transaction.

To calculate the value, you must:

  1. Find the input value and the output value of the virtual currency that was sold. Use the exchange rate from the marketplace where you traded the virtual currency. If the exchange rates/documentation from your provider are not available, you can use the exchange rates for a likely market value offered by another trustworthy provider. Major providers, such as Coinmarketcap offer historical exchange rates for most virtual currencies online for free.
  2. Use the currency exchange rates provided by Norges Bank to convert the values into Norwegian kroner.
  3. Deduct the input value from the output value.

Currency effects that arise because of you having to convert to Norwegian kroner should be included in the gain and loss settlement for the digital currency. 

Such currency effects can therefore either increase or reduce the gain or loss. You should not perform a separate gain/loss calculation for the currency effect.

Example 1:

Gain/loss =

  • Output value – Input value (Cost price)
  • Digital currency exchange rate x USD exchange rate
  • Convert USD to NOK for input value and output value

We use the same example as above:

  • On 14 December 2020, you sell 1.32 bitcoins that you purchased on 13 October 2020
  • Your input value, including transaction costs, amounted to NOK 138,671.17
  • Your output value, including transaction costs, amounted to NOK 219,043.46

Your gain for this transaction: NOK 219,043.46 - NOK 138,671.17 = NOK 80,372.29

Example 2:

You use the bitcoins you've purchased to buy ethereum.

  • You buy ethereum on 14 December in exchange for the 1.32 bitcoins that you bought on 13 October.
  • The bitcoin exchange rate at the time was USD 19,086.07
  • The ethereum exchange rate at the time was USD 585.31
  • The transaction cost was USD 21.7.
  • You purchase ethereum for bitcoin at the following cost: 1.32 x 19 086.07-21.7 = USD 25,171.91 (This corresponds to NOK 19,043.44).

With that, you purchase 43 ethereum (25,171.91/585.31 = 43). As the value of the ethereum that you purchase is equal to the value of the bitcoins that you sell, the input value of the ethereum will be equal to the output value of the bitcoins. The transaction represents the realisation of bitcoins and you must report it in the same way as a transaction involving normal currency (Fiat).
The gain in Norwegian kroner will be the output value - input value:
NOK 219,043.44 - NOK 138,671.17 = NOK 80,372.27

It makes no difference whether you realise against an ordinary currency or a digital currency.

You must enter gain and loss from sale of digital currency in your tax return.

There are two ways of doing this in the card for Virtual assets/cryptocurrency:

  • You can either enter the information for each virtual asset/cryptocurrency in a separate card, or
  • enter the summarised information for all virtual assets in one card, with an attachment showing the information for each virtual currency and other virtual assets.

Log in to the tax return and select the topic Finance and then the card Virtual assets/cryptocurrency. You’ll find information and guidance on what to do and how to proceed once you’re logged in. There are help texts for every field.

Bitcoin-based ETF/ETP (exchange-traded products) are financial instruments connected to cryptocurrency. If you own such financial products that are not stated in the tax return, you must enter them under Other financial products and virtual assets / cryptocurrency and in the card Other financial products.

Change the tax return on paper

Making changes in previous years’ tax returns

If you’ve discovered errors, or if something is missing, in your tax return for previous years, you can change your tax return.

You do not need to send us any documentation, but you must be able to present documentation if we ask for it.