Recording what you received in an airdrop
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 6 min
In short
Airdrops slip out of records precisely because you did not buy them, and that is what makes quantities stop reconciling later. Note the date, asset, quantity and value at receipt on the day. How they are taxed is a matter for the National Tax Agency's guidance and a tax professional.
Key points
- Log the date, asset, quantity and value at receipt, at the time
- If claiming was required, record the claim date and the fee it cost
- Tokens you did not expect: note them, do not interact with them
- Whether and when they are taxed is set by the rules — ask a tax professional
Definition
Recording the fact and timing of tokens distributed to you for free by a project.
Airdrops fall out of records because nothing left your account. There was no purchase to log, so nothing gets written, and months later a balance appears with no explanation of when it arrived. Once quantities stop reconciling, the whole calculation for that asset becomes unreliable.
Four fields: the date received, the asset and its contract address, the quantity, and roughly what it was worth at receipt. The value is worth noting the same day, especially for a token that has just started trading and is moving. If you had to claim it yourself, record the claim date and the network fee you paid to do so.
There is a security angle here too. Tokens you never expected sometimes appear in a wallet, and they are a known entry point for fraud — made to look valuable so that trying to swap them triggers an approval the attacker exploits. Note such tokens in your records as received, origin unknown, and then leave them alone: do not send them and do not swap them.
On tax, the questions of whether the event is at receipt or at disposal, which income category applies, and how the value at receipt is measured are all set by the rules, and this page does not assert answers. What your records need to do is preserve enough material for a professional to decide. Confirm the current position with the National Tax Agency's guidance and a tax professional.
Watch out for
- · Do not interact with tokens you did not expect — swapping or sending them is a known scam entry point
- · This page is a general orientation, not tax advice
- · The timing and category of any taxable event are set by the rules — check with the National Tax Agency and a tax professional
Frequently asked questions
Do near-worthless airdrops need recording?
Record the receipt so quantities still reconcile. Note the value as near zero while it has no market, in case one appears later. How to treat it is a question for a tax professional.