Commonwealth’s crypto tax trap: Division 296 hits ordinary Australians, not the rich
A time bomb is quietly ticking away inside the Commonwealth Government’s Division 296 tax regime. It has nothing to do with waterfront property, luxury goods, art or high-frequency trading. It’s cryptocurrency—and it will drag ordinary Australians’ self-managed super funds (SMSFs) into a tax net they were never meant to be caught in.
While the government continues to sell Division 296 as a modest tax reform targeting “very high super balances”—a reference to the $3 million threshold—there’s a critical flaw in their pitch: the numbers lie when volatile assets like crypto are involved.
And it’s not just the top end of town who will pay the price.
From niche to norm: Crypto inside SMSFs
In the early…
