Airdrops in Switzerland

Income Tax will not always apply to airdropped tokens received in a personal capacity. Income Tax may not apply if they’re received: without doing anything in return (for example, not related to any service or other conditions) not as part of a trade or business involving cryptoasset exchange tokens or mining Airdrops that are provided in return for, or in expectation of, a service are subject to Income Tax either as: miscellaneous income receipts of an existing trade The disposal of a token received through an airdrop may result in a chargeable gain for Capital Gains Tax, even if it’s not chargeable to Income Tax when it’s received. Where changes in value get brought into account as part of a computation of trade profits Income Tax will take priority over Capital Gains Tax.

Q24. How do I calculate my income from cryptocurrency I received following a hard fork? A24. When you receive cryptocurrency from an airdrop following a hard fork, you will have ordinary income equal to the fair market value of the new cryptocurrency when it is received, which is when the transaction is recorded on the distributed ledger, provided you have dominion and control over the cryptocurrency so that you can transfer, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of the cryptocurrency.

The receipt of additional crypto-assets may result in other income from rendering of service within the meaning of section 22 no 3 of the Income Tax Act. This is the case – despite the marketing nature of many airdrops – if interested parties are required to render a service (see paragraph 46), and hence in particular in the case of active engagement such as mentioning the airdrop or the project initiator in social media posts.

Airdrops New cryptoassets from an airdrop may be taxable on either receipt, disposal or both.