Odaily reported that India’s 2026 tax filing season will impose stricter compliance requirements on crypto investors. Citing The Times of India, the report said the country’s crypto tax framework has not undergone a drastic change, but enforcement standards and reporting details have become significantly tighter. As a result, errors in tax filings now carry more serious compliance consequences for investors dealing with crypto assets.
New Income Tax Act 2025 takes effect on April 1, 2026
India will implement the new Income Tax Act, 2025 from April 1, 2026, replacing the earlier 1961 law. For the FY2025-26 tax year, crypto assets will still be reported under the existing virtual digital asset, or VDA, framework. The key change described in the report is not a major shift in the tax category itself, but a more detailed approach to execution, record keeping, data checks and filing requirements.
Within this framework, Schedule VDA is the central reporting section for crypto tax filings. Instead of allowing investors to report only an aggregated net gain, Schedule VDA requires information to be submitted on a transaction-by-transaction basis. The scope includes every trade, every exchange and every disposal of a crypto asset. This means investors must maintain a complete set of detailed transaction records, not merely the final profit or loss figure.
Cross-platform activity, DeFi and multiple wallets complicate records
The reporting burden is more complex for users who trade across multiple platforms, carry out DeFi operations or transfer assets through several wallets. Records generated by different exchanges, on-chain addresses and wallet movements need to remain complete and consistent. Under a transaction-level reporting approach, partial records can create gaps between the investor’s filing and the data available from exchanges or blockchains.
The report noted that failing to fully disclose any single crypto asset exchange or transaction can lead to a compliance risk review. Indian authorities are increasing requirements for data matching and for verification against on-chain records and exchange records. As the FY2025-26 tax year falls under the tightened reporting approach, crypto investors must organize VDA-related trades, exchanges and disposals at the individual transaction level to reduce compliance risks caused by filing errors.