Practical guides · Updated November 4, 2026 · For individuals and businesses that hold or use cryptoassets.
“Where did this deposit come from? Who did you send these funds to? Did you use another wallet?” You’ve already sent files to your accountant, but the questions keep coming. You search through your emails and try to make sense of transactions from months ago. Going back over the same records is starting to wear on you.
The records you provided are still incomplete. Without certain statements, receipts or explanations, your accountant has to spend time reconstructing the transactions and coming back to you for answers. These exchanges slow the work down and can increase the fees.
Providing all the information at the outset lets your accountant work more efficiently. Less time spent searching for records and asking follow-up questions can also reduce the cost of preparing your file. Here are ten records you can provide to help your accountant review your cryptoasset transactions.
1. A complete list of your public wallet addresses
Names such as “personal wallet” and “company treasury” help your accountant tell your wallets apart at a glance. A wallet list identifies the owner, the networks used, when the wallet was in use and the public addresses where the activity can be found. Even a wallet that’s empty today may explain transactions from the year under review. One app can manage several accounts, and on some networks a single account can use several receiving addresses.
Your accountant does not need your private keys, recovery phrase or PIN. Even public addresses can reveal your holdings and activity once they’re linked to your name. The address list is best shared through a secure channel you and your accountant agree on.
2. Transfers between your bank and your cryptoasset platforms
When you send money to a platform to buy cryptoassets or withdraw the proceeds of a sale, the bank statement and the platform receipt document the same transfer. Your accountant can match the two amounts using the date, currency, sending and receiving accounts and any fees charged.
If you send CAD 5,000 and a CAD 15 fee comes out of that amount, the platform credits CAD 4,985. The two records explain the CAD 15 difference. To find out which cryptoassets you then bought and at what price, your accountant will also need the trade history.
3. Over-the-counter trade confirmations
In an over-the-counter (OTC) trade, you agree on the terms directly with the person or business buying or selling the cryptoassets. Your accountant can use the agreement, trade confirmation or messages to identify the buyer and seller, the assets and quantities, the price and any fees. Payment receipts and transaction IDs show when each part of the trade settled.
Suppose you buy 0.30 BTC by bank transfer and the seller sends you 0.10 BTC first, then 0.20 BTC. With the trade confirmation, the bank receipt and the transaction IDs for both bitcoin transfers, your accountant can match both instalments to the same purchase.
The payment can also arrive the following day. If you send bitcoin to Julie on May 11 and receive her CAD 600 bank transfer on May 12, a note on the bank receipt with the bitcoin transaction ID links the payment to the sale.
4. Invoices paid in cryptoassets
Whether you made or received the payment, the original invoice describes the goods or services and gives the billing currency. The payment record fills in the other details: the cryptoasset, network, quantity transferred, date and time, transaction ID and fees. A short note can explain a partial payment, a refund or a payment made on someone else’s behalf.
According to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), records must show the Canadian-dollar value of the cryptoasset at the time of the transaction. Keeping the source of the exchange rate lets your accountant verify that value. [1]
5. The platforms you used, including any accounts you’ve closed
This list covers exchanges, brokers, lending platforms and custodial services. The account holder’s name and dates of use for each account and subaccount help distinguish your personal transactions from your company’s.
An account that’s closed or has a zero balance may explain a deposit received elsewhere. If you’ve lost access, it helps to identify the statements you recovered and the periods you’re still missing.
6. Complete transaction histories from each platform
A file labelled “Buys and sells” can cover the whole year without showing a single deposit or withdrawal. Platforms sometimes provide separate files for transfers, conversions, rewards and fees. Margin accounts and derivatives may also have their own statements. Each file’s date range and time zone are useful when two statements appear to disagree.
Regular downloads let you keep the original files (CSV, XLSX or PDF). If two rows look identical, flagging them in a working copy leaves both available for your accountant to check. If your software imports data automatically through an application programming interface (API), the original statements also give you a way to check for missing transactions.
7. Receipts for expenses and fees paid in cryptoassets
If you pay 40 USDC for a subscription from your wallet, the supplier’s receipt shows which service you bought. If you paid the network fee in ETH, the transaction details let your accountant distinguish that fee from the 40 USDC the supplier received.
If you use a debit or credit card linked to decentralized finance (DeFi), your accountant needs card statements covering the entire period. With ether.fi, for example, the card statement lists purchases and refunds. In Direct Pay mode, the account history shows which asset you spent and how much. In Borrow Mode, the purchase adds to a loan secured by your cryptoassets. The account statement and repayment history let your accountant track that debt. [2] [3]
Crypto.com is an example of a centralized exchange (CEX). Suppose you use BTC to load CAD 100 onto its prepaid Visa card in Canada, then spend CAD 35 at a store. The app lets you export separate CSV files for your crypto wallet and your card. Together, they show how much BTC went into the top-up and which purchase used CAD 35 of the card balance. [4] [5]
8. Notes on peer-to-peer transactions
Suppose you sell your friend Marc a non-fungible token (NFT) for 0.25 ETH. In the first transaction, you send him the NFT. In the second, he sends 0.25 ETH to your wallet. A note with the collection name, the token number and both transaction IDs lets your accountant match the NFT you sold to the payment you received.
The payment can come first, too. If your friend sends you 150 USDC on June 8 and you deliver a different NFT on June 9, a note beside the two IDs can simply say “150 USDC received June 8 for the NFT sent June 9.” A few words can also explain a transfer to a friend or family member for a different reason, such as repaying someone for dinner or lending money to your sister.
9. Year-end balances in your centralized exchange accounts
Year-end statements from each centralized exchange you used let your accountant check the balances in the accounts you hold there. For a company whose fiscal year ends on June 30, the relevant statement shows balances as of June 30. The exchange name, account holder, balance date and time zone help match the statement to the right account and period.
The records you provide include the main account statement and any separate statements for subaccounts or products you used. Together, these statements should show the quantities of each cryptoasset, cash balances by currency, loans and open positions at year-end. It also helps to identify staked, locked or inaccessible amounts separately. A screenshot showing only the account’s total value leaves out that detail. Your accountant can then compare the balances reported by the exchange with those calculated from the transaction history.
10. Records for cryptoassets you already held and a note on what’s missing
If you already held cryptoassets at the start of the year, earlier reports, acquisition cost calculations and the transactions behind them help your accountant verify your opening balances. The market price on January 1 tells you what an asset was worth that day; it doesn’t tell you what you paid for it.
A few lines are enough to flag a correction, explain an assumption used last year or say which records you’re waiting for: “I have the statements for April through December. I’ve asked the platform for January through March.” Your accountant then knows exactly which period still needs to be checked.
Organizing the records for your cryptoasset transactions
Organizing records by year, then by wallet, platform or DeFi card, makes it easier to find the documents behind a payment or transfer. Keeping the originals apart from working copies prevents information from being lost as you make corrections. A separate backup protects your records if you lose access to your computer. You and your accountant can agree on a secure way to share the files.
In Canada, the CRA requires adequate records to support each transaction. It recommends downloading your platform histories regularly. Its minimum retention period is six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to. The purchase date of a cryptoasset is therefore not necessarily the starting point. [1]
If a wallet balance remains unexplained or an exchange’s transaction history is incomplete, Token Expert can help trace the transactions involved.
References
- Canada Revenue Agency, Keeping books and records of crypto-assets for tax filing, updated November 10, 2025; reviewed November 4, 2026. The ten points in this guide are Token Expert’s own checklist.
- ether.fi, Card and account statements, provider documentation, reviewed November 4, 2026.
- ether.fi, Borrow Mode and Direct Pay, provider documentation, reviewed November 4, 2026.
- Crypto.com, Funding the Visa card in Canada, reviewed November 4, 2026.
- Crypto.com, Exporting wallet and card transaction histories, reviewed November 4, 2026.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information and does not constitute tax, accounting or legal advice. The CRA guidance applies in Canada; requirements elsewhere may differ. The treatment of a transaction depends on the circumstances.
