We had a hunch that a lot of new crypto traders in Canada didn’t know how to file capital gains tax, so we added a tool to do it for them — and it works for nearly every major crypto app or exchange.

Confused About Crypto and Taxes? Wealthsimple Tax Does It for You

Wealthsimple makes powerful financial tools to help you grow and manage your money. Learn more

Listen, we hate to generalize. We really do. We believe that every person is a special unique flower in a field full of special unique flowers and all that sort of good stuff. But, we assume that, if you traded cryptocurrencies last year, you probably don’t know what you’re supposed to do about paying taxes on your crypto. Why do we make that presumption? Well, we recently surveyed 1,221 Canadians (with help from the polling firm Angus Reid). And we discovered, first of all, that a lot of people started trading crypto last year — two-thirds of the traders we surveyed said they bought or sold digital currency for the first time in 2021. And, second, the majority of crypto retail traders — aka everyday folks, as opposed to professionals who work for trading firms and the like — don’t know whether, or how, to report capital gains on their crypto earnings.

How many specifically? 85% of the crypto traders we surveyed said they didn’t know how to calculate capital gains — which is something they’ll need to do.

TLDR Newsletter Logo

Sign up for our weekly non-boring newsletter about money, markets, and more. Sorry, TLDR is currently available in English only.

By providing your email, you are consenting to receive communications from Wealthsimple Media Inc. Visit our Privacy Policy for more info, or contact us at privacy@wealthsimple.com or 80 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON.

If you just read that sentence and thought, Wait, I have to pay capital gains on my crypto earnings!?, we’re talking about you, we’re afraid. But that’s good, actually! You’re the person we want to talk to. Because this year, we improved Wealthsimple Tax so that it will import your crypto transactions from more than 300 popular exchanges and wallets and automatically calculate your gains and losses. That means there’s a whole lot of math you won’t be doing. And, so long as you made fewer than 500 transactions last year, we’ll charge you exactly zero dollars for the service.

How does it work? Well, if you’re curious, Wealthsimple Tax will match historical crypto prices with the movement of coins in and out of your crypto wallet to figure out how much you earned or lost, and how much you owe in taxes. Then, once Wealthsimple Tax has crunched the numbers, it’ll automatically add your gains to your tax return. Simple, right? And if you didn’t trade crypto last year and instead stuck with stocks and other traditional financial assets, we’ll do the math on your capital gains for that stuff, too. (Sixty-six percent of stock traders said they had little to no knowledge of how to report capital gains on their tax return, so the confusion isn’t crypto-specific!)

Recommended for you

  • Until now, responsible investing has been about avoiding bad actors. The new Wealthsimple Green Bond changes that by supporting projects that are changing the world for the better. And it’s a good investment, too.

    Announcing the Wealthsimple Green Bond: We Made Green Investing Actually Green

    News

  • Introducing: Fractional Shares on Wealthsimple Trade

    News

  • We had a hunch that a lot of new crypto traders in Canada didn’t know how to file capital gains tax, so we added a tool to do it for them — and it works for nearly every major crypto app or exchange.

    Confused About Crypto and Taxes? Wealthsimple Tax Does It for You

    News

  • We’ve Got Wallets (Crypto, Not Velcro!)

    News

We hate to boast, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that Wealthsimple is the first company to offer Canadians a regulated crypto platform AND a DIY tax-filing tool that calculates crypto capital gains.

WEALTHSIMPLE TAX

File for $0

Enjoy doing your taxes. Seriously. Your maximum refund is guaranteed.

What’s the catch? Um, nothing? We really just want you to like Wealthsimple Tax. Because if you do, we suspect you’ll try Wealthsimple’s other handy, intuitive apps and products — all of which we designed to make investing and managing your money super easy. But no pressure.

And, lastly, a reminder: NETFILE opens on February 21. Give Wealthsimple Tax a whirl and let us make filing taxes slightly less awful and time-consuming. You are, after all, a special unique flower who, we’re sure, has better things to do.

Wealthsimple Favourites

Wealthsimple uses technology and smart, friendly humans to help you grow and manage your money. Invest, save, trade, and even do your taxes in a better, simpler way.

The content on this site is produced by Wealthsimple Media Inc. and is for informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be investment advice or any other kind of professional advice. Before taking any action based on this content you should consult a professional. We do not endorse any third parties referenced on this site. When you invest, your money is at risk and it is possible that you may lose some or all of your investment. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Historical returns, hypothetical returns, expected returns and images included in this content are for illustrative purposes only.

Money Diaries

"I DON’T KNEEL DOWN AT THE ALTAR OF THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR. THAT’S NOT FOR ME."

Spike Lee Tells Us Why He Never Feels Bad Asking for Money

TLDR Newsletter

Business news made simple

Sign up for our weekly non-boring newsletter about money, markets, and more. Sorry, TLDR is currently available in English only.

By providing your email, you are consenting to receive communications from Wealthsimple Media Inc. Visit our Privacy Policy for more info, or contact us at privacy@wealthsimple.com or 80 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON.

  • News

    Crypto: Now Available in Our Retirement Portfolios at Wealthsimple Work

    Did you know Wealthsimple manages GRSPs for employers? And that we’ve designed a brand new portfolio that features cryptocurrency ETFs as part of a diversified portfolio to invest for your retirement?

  • News

    Only Want to Invest in Companies That Can Meet the Paris Accords Guidelines? We Did That For You

    When we built our new SRI funds, we thought they were good. But we wanted to know for sure, so we hired a firm to find out. The results exceeded our expectations, and showed us how responsibility should be measured.

  • WEALTHSIMPLE TAX

    File for $0

    Enjoy doing your taxes. Seriously. Your maximum refund is guaranteed.

  • News

    Building a Better Wealthsimple: Our Diversity & Inclusion Update

    Part of our commitment to creating a better, more diverse and inclusive company is to report our progress throughout the year. Here’s where we are today — the progress we’ve made and the places we have more work to do.

  • News

    Announcing: Wealthsimple Crypto, Now With Tons of New Coins!

    Interested in Uniswap, Aave, or Dogecoin — or just generally buying and selling more types of crypto assets? Well, now you can. Here’s how (and what it all means).

WEALTHSIMPLE TAX

File for $0

Enjoy doing your taxes. Seriously. Your maximum refund is guaranteed.