Where This Edition Fits

The National Tax Agency published this edition on December 18, 2020. The index link reads Tax Treatment of Crypto Assets (Information). It contains 32 questions.

The previous December 20, 2019 edition was Tax Treatment of Virtual Currencies (Information). The titles differ by one term, which largely describes this revision: the same 32 questions and chapters remain, with virtual currency replaced throughout by crypto assets. For the previous edition, see Commentary on the December 2019 Edition summarizing in

Overview

Why Did Virtual Currency Become Crypto Assets?

Tracing tax reform outlines reveals the transition. Virtual currency appeared in FY2017, for the consumption tax exemption, and FY2019, for individual valuation and corporate mark-to-market rules. Both used virtual currency.

Crypto assets first appears in the FY2020 outline approved December 20, 2019. However, virtual currency also remains, so terminology was not fully replaced that year. The crypto asset provision states:

Miscellaneous income and similar income from crypto asset derivative transactions are excluded from special futures taxation and loss carryforwards for futures cash settlements and similar transactions.

Payment reporting for crypto asset derivatives was also established. The terminology change itself did not originate in tax law; it followed the Payment Services Act and related amendments. Those amendments set the name, and the outline followed. The December 2020 FAQ change belongs to the same sequence. For how tax law treats crypto assets, see How does the tax law define "cryptoassets"?.

Did the Name Change Alter Tax Treatment?

No. Question count and chapter structure match December 2019. That edition's contents were arranged as follows.

The seven chapters and 32 questions remain unchanged in December 2020. Scenarios such as selling, buying goods, exchanging assets, and acquiring assets through splits are unchanged. So are the separate income and corporation tax framework and coverage of inheritance, gifts, salary payments, consumption tax, and assets and liabilities and foreign assets statements.

Understanding gained from December 2019 therefore carries over to December 2020, simply reading crypto assets in place of virtual currency. For the development of the regime during this period, see The crypto asset tax system was created this way. summarizing in

Where Is the Boundary When Reading Historical Materials?

This edition is practically useful when consulting older documents. Whether an article says virtual currency or crypto assets gives a rough indication of its date.

• The December 2017, November 2018, and December 2019 editions use virtual currency in both title and text.
• December 2020 and later editions use crypto assets.
• Only the December 2025 index link adds and Similar Assets, becoming Tax Treatment of Crypto Assets and Similar Assets (Information).

Different terminology refers to the same subject. Older virtual currency materials are not necessarily discussing a separate regime. Conversely, crypto assets alone does not prove a source is recent: it indicates December 2020 or later, with several subsequent editions. For the next edition, see Commentary on the June 2021 Edition Please see

The Latest Contents Retain Evidence of the Document-Wide Replacement

The scope of the terminology replacement can be checked in current contents. From December 2023, entries carry Updated or Added notes. Of the latest December 2025 edition's 47 questions, 14 show Updated December 2020.

These are current numbers, not December 2020 sequential numbers. Even so, the 14 notes are the largest group for any revision, followed by nine Updated December 2024 and seven Updated December 2023. This indicates a document-wide change rather than correction of a single issue.

Chapter 3, Corporation Tax, has no Updated December 2020 notes. Its questions carry later notes from December 2021 through December 2024, reflecting continued amendments replacing older annotations. For the edition history, see Crypto Asset FAQ Revision History Hub summarizing in

Points that require care in practice

• If an undated source says virtual currency, the title's terminology indicates whether it predates December 2020.
• When citing an edition before December 2020, decide whether to retain virtual currency or modernize it. Direct quotations should generally preserve the original wording.
• If books or transaction records still use virtual currency, that is a labeling matter; this edition did not change tax treatment.
• If exchange or accounting software displays differ from terminology in tax office documents.
• December 2020 has 32 questions, but later editions add more. Absence from an old edition does not establish that no such treatment exists; check the latest.
• If choosing between this edition and the preceding one, the structure is unchanged apart from terminology, so consult the newer edition.

Sources

• National Tax Agency: Tax Treatment of Crypto Assets (Information), December 18, 2020 PDF
• National Tax Agency: Tax Treatment of Virtual Currencies (Information), December 20, 2019 PDF
• National Tax Agency: Tax Treatment of Crypto-Assets, etc. (Information) (December 2025), published December 26, 2025 PDF
• National Tax Agency: Archived Information on Crypto-Assets List