Koinly review for New Zealand crypto taxes
Verdict: Koinly is a reasonable fit for most NZ crypto holders: you can import everything and preview gains for free, and you only pay (from USD 49 per tax year) when you need the report. It does not file for you; you or your accountant still file the IR3 with Inland Revenue.
How Inland Revenue taxes crypto (the short version)
- Inland Revenue treats cryptoassets as a form of property; tax treatment depends on the asset's characteristics and use, not its name.
- Buying and selling crypto is not subject to GST, but crypto received as payment for normal business activity has GST implications.
- If you have taxable income from a cryptoasset activity, you file an individual income tax return (IR3).
- NZ has no separate capital gains tax; Koinly's NZ guide explains that taxable crypto profits are taxed at your marginal income tax rate (10.5% up to 39%).
- The NZ tax year runs 1 April to 31 March.
Setting Koinly up for New Zealand
Koinly's own NZ guide gives these steps:
- Create a free Koinly account.
- Choose New Zealand as your country, NZD as your currency, and FIFO as your cost basis method (Koinly's guide says NZ investors can use FIFO or weighted average cost).
- Connect your wallets and exchanges by API or CSV.
- Review the calculated gains and income, fix any missing-cost or negative-balance warnings, then buy a plan to download the report.
- Give the report to your accountant, or use its figures for your IR3.
Koinly pricing (official, per tax year, USD)
| Plan | Price | Transactions |
|---|---|---|
| Free | USD 0 | Import and preview up to 10,000 (no downloadable tax report) |
| Newbie | USD 49 | 100 |
| Hodler | USD 99 | 1,000 |
| Trader | from USD 199 | 3,000+ |
Per Koinly's pricing page: plans are one-time payments per tax year (no auto-renewing subscription), you can generate unlimited reports for a paid year, upgrades charge only the difference, there is a 7-day refund if you haven't generated a report yet, and you can pay by card or in crypto (BTC, ETH, DAI, USDC).
Pros and cons for NZ users
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free import and gains preview before paying No subscription; pay only for tax years you need Supports FIFO and other cost basis methods Handles DeFi, NFTs, staking and mining income Pay in crypto if you prefer | Priced in USD, not NZD Does not lodge your return with IRD Thin official IRD guidance on DeFi and staking means you may still need an accountant Transaction tiers can push heavy traders to USD 199+ |
Records Inland Revenue may ask for
Whatever tool you use, keep: transaction dates and types, coin type and units, NZD value at the time, exchange and bank records, and your wallet addresses. Koinly keeps an audit report of these, but keep your original exports too.
Comparing options? See Koinly vs CoinLedger vs CoinTracker and our NZ crypto tax software overview. Storing coins long-term? See hardware wallets for Australia & NZ.