Schedule VDA in ITR forms is the section for reporting income from transfers of virtual digital assets such as crypto assets, when the form and assessment year require it. It is transaction-based, so a wallet balance or one exchange summary is not enough.
The Income Tax Department’s official ITR help and FAQs should be checked for the current assessment year before filing. Forms and validation rules can change.
Which returns contain Schedule VDA?
The department has included Schedule VDA in individual returns such as ITR-2 and ITR-3 for taxpayers who need to report VDA income. The correct form depends on the rest of your income and status, not only on owning crypto.
A person with business income may need a different return from an investor with capital gains. If classification is uncertain, use a qualified tax professional rather than forcing entries into a form.
What the schedule asks for
The schedule generally requires transaction-level details including:
- date of acquisition;
- date of transfer;
- category of income;
- sale consideration;
- cost of acquisition;
- resulting income.
Use contract notes, exchange statements, wallet records and bank entries to support every line. Transfers between your own wallets should not be confused with a sale, but records are still needed to show ownership and cost trail.
The 30% rule and deductions
Section 115BBH provides a special tax rate for income from transfer of VDA. The law restricts deductions to cost of acquisition and does not allow a loss from one VDA transfer to be set off against other income under that provision.
This is why gross proceeds should not be entered as income without the acquisition cost, and why a portfolio-wide net figure can be misleading.
Our crypto tax explainer covers the 30% rate, 1% TDS framework and loss restrictions. Schedule VDA is the reporting mechanism inside the return.
Match TDS records
Where section 194S tax was deducted, compare exchange or payer statements with Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement. A mismatch can delay processing or create a notice even when the economic calculation is correct.
Record transaction IDs and the legal name of the reporting entity. Brand names and contracting entities may differ.
Which date should be used?
Use the actual acquisition and transfer dates supported by records. Do not substitute the date funds reached a bank account if the disposal occurred earlier.
Crypto-to-crypto swaps can also involve a transfer for tax purposes. The lack of a rupee withdrawal does not by itself remove the reporting question.
Before filing
- Export full transaction history from each exchange.
- Download wallet records for self-custody transfers.
- Remove duplicates without deleting supporting rows.
- Match acquisition cost to every disposal using a consistent, supportable method.
- Reconcile TDS in tax statements.
- Enter transactions in the current form or utility.
- Run the portal validation and keep the computation.
Do not wait until an exchange closes access to old statements. Keep local copies of raw exports and the cleaned working paper.
Date and form warning
This article was checked against Income Tax Department materials on 9 October 2026. It is an explainer, not personalised tax advice. Use the form, schema and instructions for the assessment year you are filing, because a past-year screenshot may show different fields.
