Australia Releases Draft Bill to Adopt OECD Crypto Tax Reporting Framework, Eyes 2028 Global Data Sharing

Published October 16, 2026, 10:55 PKT. Based on the Australian Treasury's October 15, 2026 release of draft tax reporting legislation, and reporting from Cointelegraph, crypto.news, PANews, Marthio and Coin-Turk.

Australia has released draft legislation that would wire cryptocurrency into the global tax reporting system. The Australian Treasury said on October 15, 2026 that the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2026: Tax information reporting would establish the legal framework to implement the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, known as CARF, in Australian law, and would introduce a parallel domestic crypto reporting regime, according to Cointelegraph. The draft, published with an explanatory memorandum, is open for public comment until October 28, 2026, and the first international exchanges of crypto tax information under the framework are expected in 2028. The bill remains a proposal and has not become law; Treasury will weigh submissions before the government decides whether to introduce it into Parliament, crypto.news reported.

The October 28 consultation window

The consultation is short, roughly two weeks from release. Treasury is accepting written submissions through its consultation portal until October 28, 2026, and published an explanatory memorandum alongside the proposed legislation, crypto.news reported. The draft arrived under the government's tax transparency program and follows commitments made in the 2025-26 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the same document that confirmed the 2028 start for international crypto tax data exchanges. For crypto platforms serving Australians, the consultation is the formal window to respond before Treasury finalizes its advice to the government.

CARF, the 2022 OECD standard

CARF is not new, but Australia is only now writing it into domestic law. The OECD approved the framework in August 2022 to close the tax evasion gaps created by crypto assets moving outside the conventional banking system, PANews reported. Under the standard, crypto-asset service providers report transaction data to their home tax authority, which then swaps it automatically with partner countries. The OECD reports that 77 jurisdictions have committed to implementing CARF, crypto.news reported, and Australia first signaled its own intention in November 2023 before consulting on its approach in the second half of 2024. Law firm King & Wood Mallesons noted on October 8 that Australia will also need to sign the CARF Competent Authority Agreement, plus an addendum to the Common Reporting Standard multilateral agreement, before the cross-border exchange machinery can actually run.

The domestic reporting regime

The bill does not stop at cross-border sharing. It would also create a domestic crypto-asset reporting regime, giving the Australian Taxation Office structured data on residents' crypto transactions. Mallesons said the domestic extension would help the ATO pursue residents who do not pay tax properly on their crypto dealings. The draft also updates Australia's existing financial account reporting standards alongside the new crypto rules, crypto.news reported. According to Marthio, the draft would require crypto platforms to report transactions involving Australian residents starting in July 2027, a timeline that gives exchanges and custodians months to build the reporting plumbing before the first international swaps in 2028. A week before the draft landed, Mallesons advised financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers to start preparing systems, processes and governance structures now, warning that the work takes significant time.

Global exchanges from 2028

The headline for tax authorities is the 2028 start date. If the bill passes, Australia's first automatic exchanges of crypto tax information with partner countries are expected in 2028, putting a hard timeline on one of the world's largest coordinated tax data projects. Coin-Turk reported the Treasury's position that the measures are designed to enhance tax transparency and help authorities track crypto-related financial activity more effectively across jurisdictions. The tax draft arrived a day after Australia's securities regulator opened a separate consultation on capital, custody and trading rules for crypto platforms, making October the month Canberra moved on two crypto rulebooks at once.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Australian Treasury, Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2026: Tax information reporting, exposure draft released October 15, 2026, primary source for the bill's name and scope, its implementation of the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and the parallel domestic crypto reporting regime, the October 28, 2026 consultation deadline, the explanatory memorandum and submissions portal, the tax transparency program context, and the 2025-26 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook commitment
• Cointelegraph, "Australia releases draft bill to adopt OECD crypto tax reporting framework", by Felix Ng, October 15, 2026, secondary source for the bill's framework description, the 2028 expectation for the first international exchanges of crypto tax information, the November 2023 intent signal, the second-half 2024 consultation, and the OECD's August 2022 approval of CARF
• crypto.news, "Australia moves to share crypto tax data globally by 2028", October 15-16, 2026, secondary source for the consultation mechanics, the bill's not-yet-law status and Treasury's next steps, the 77-jurisdiction OECD commitment figure, the updates to existing financial account reporting standards, and the tax transparency program framing
• PANews, October 16, 2026, secondary source for the November 2023 intent signal, the second-half 2024 consultation, the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook announcement, the 2028 international exchange start, and the framework's tax evasion rationale from the OECD's August 2022 approval
• Marthio, "Australia proposes mandatory crypto tax reporting from 2027", October 15, 2026, secondary source for the July 2027 start of platform reporting on transactions involving Australian residents and the automatic exchange of crypto tax information between countries
• Coin-Turk, "Australia unveils draft bill for global crypto tax information sharing", October 15-16, 2026, secondary source for the Treasury's tax transparency framing and the October 28, 2026 comment deadline
• King & Wood Mallesons, October 8, 2026, secondary source for the CARF Competent Authority Agreement and Common Reporting Standard multilateral addendum requirements, the domestic regime's ATO enforcement angle, and the readiness advice to financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers