OECD begins CARF rollout as countries plan crypto tax data sharing

CARF is designed to make crypto activity more visible to tax authorities, especially in cross-border situations where the user and the platform operate under different jurisdictions.

The framework spells out which crypto transactions and which service providers fall under reporting. The focus is on intermediaries that execute trades or help customers store and transfer crypto assets. Those providers will be expected to identify users and keep standardized records of transaction details: who made the transaction, which assets were involved, the amount, and the time. CARF also puts special emphasis on events such as exchanges between crypto and fiat, crypto-to-crypto swaps, and crypto used to pay for goods and services.

At the same time, the OECD frames CARF as a broad, multi-jurisdiction effort rather than a regional initiative. In its published list of CARF commitments, jurisdictions outline plans to launch automatic information exchange based on the standard. Some countries name target start dates, while others signal they will join after they update domestic rules and build out the required technical infrastructure. That matters because CARF depends on scale: the more participants there are, the fewer “quiet” jurisdictions remain for activity that currently slips through reporting.

With the January 1, 2026 milestone, a number of jurisdictions are expected to move to new reporting rules, according to industry briefings and coverage. For users, this is likely to show up as more frequent KYC requests, more data collected during onboarding and verification, and a higher chance that activity ends up in tax reporting automatically.

For crypto businesses, the changes are more operational. Exchanges, brokers, custodians, and other service providers may need to rebuild compliance workflows, update customer data collection forms, standardize how they classify transactions, and generate reporting files suitable for cross-border exchange. CARF was drafted as an add-on to existing tax transparency regimes, so in some countries it will stack on top of local requirements, while in others it may become the base layer of new regulation.

A key question is how quickly cross-border exchange will work in practice. Even when a country announces a target start date, it still needs legislation, agreed data formats, and compatible systems.

Still, the trajectory is hard to miss. The commitment list and CARF’s presence in the OECD’s information-exchange agenda suggest crypto reporting is becoming part of mainstream tax infrastructure not only in Europe, but also in Canada, Mexico, and parts of Asia. OECD materials and industry reporting suggest roughly 75 jurisdictions are associated with CARF so far; the U.S. has been discussed as a later adopter, with implementation targets that have been cited around 2028 and data exchange potentially following after that.