Yes, ZebPay reports your crypto transactions to the Income Tax Department. Many crypto traders in India, who see 1% TDS disappear from a trade, assume that their tax obligation is settled. It is the most common compliance mistake most crypto traders make. As an Indian crypto trader, you must know that what the exchange files on your behalf and what you are still required to report yourself are two different things.
ZebPay sits within India’s crypto tax framework as a registered exchange with mandatory reporting obligations to the ITD. It’s mandatory for it to deduct 1% TDS under Section 194S on qualifying trades and submit an SFT comprising your full VDA trading activity for the financial year. Before you even open your ITR, the ITD already holds a detailed record of your ZebPay trading activity for the year. This is why it’s important to file your ITR with complete transparency and the right method.
None of ZebPay’s reporting amounts to your tax return. You still need to calculate your actual gains and declare them in Schedule VDA before filing ITR-2 or ITR-3 for AY 2026-27. That filing often runs against an AIS figure that overstates what you earned, and this guide covers how to close that gap.
Key Takeaways
- ZebPay is FIU-IND registered and deducts 1% TDS under Section 194S on every qualifying VDA trade above Rs 10,000 annually.
- ZebPay submits a Statement of Financial Transactions to the ITD each year; this data flows directly into your Annual Information Statement.
- The AIS figure for your ZebPay trades may reflect total transaction activity rather than your net taxable gain, often overstating the income figure.
- TDS deducted by ZebPay is an advance payment only and does not replace your Schedule VDA filing in ITR-2 or ITR-3.
- Any mismatch between what ZebPay reports and what you declare in Schedule VDA can trigger a NUDGE notice under Project Insight, regardless of whether TDS was paid.
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How ZebPay Reports to the Income Tax Department
ZebPay’s reporting to the ITD runs through three distinct channels. Section 194S TDS is the most visible to traders, but the SFT and records against your PAN feed separate data into your AIS.
Reporting Channel | What ZebPay Files | What the ITD Receives |
Section 194S TDS | 1% TDS deducted on qualifying VDA transfers, filed in quarterly TDS returns against each user’s PAN | TDS credit against your PAN, visible in Form 26AS and AIS under “TDS on VDA” |
SFT Filing | Annual aggregate of your VDA transaction activity on ZebPay for the full financial year | AIS entry under “Purchase/Sale of VDA” showing your total transaction activity for the year |
AIS via Project Insight | PAN-linked account data aggregated into the ITD’s AIS portal automatically | ITD cross-references AIS entries against every filed ITR without manual review |
Note: (Updated: Budget 2026) From FY 2025-26, ZebPay is also required to furnish per-transaction crypto-asset statements under Section 509(1) of the Income Tax Act 2025. Not doing so attracts penalties under Section 446, with a penalty of INR 200/day for delayed submissions and INR 50,000 for incorrect transaction data.
How Does the ITD Track Your ZebPay Transactions?
KYC and PAN-Linked Account Data
ZebPay’s KYC process links your PAN permanently to your account from the moment you complete registration. Every TDS deduction ZebPay makes and every SFT it files use that PAN as the primary identifier. This means every qualifying trade on ZebPay becomes part of your tax identity, whether or not you have filed an ITR.
AIS and Project Insight
Your Annual Information Statement is where all of ZebPay’s filings converge into a single view of your trading activity for the year. TDS data from quarterly returns and SFT data from the annual filing both feed into your AIS under your PAN. The figure that appears there reflects ZebPay’s reported transaction activity, not your net taxable gain.
Project Insight is the ITD’s data analytics platform that cross-references your AIS entries against your filed ITR. Here, the AIS shows ZebPay activity, but Schedule VDA is absent or understated; the system flags it automatically. Flagged cases feed into NUDGE, the ITD’s compliance reminder programme, which can escalate to an AIS crypto notice if left unaddressed.
Why Your AIS May Overstate Your Crypto Income
Many traders assume the ZebPay figure reflected in AIS is their taxable profit, but that is rarely the case. In most cases, the number is significantly inflated due to how their transaction data is reported. Here is an example to help you understand it better.
A crypto trader named Aditya traded actively on ZebPay in FY 2025-26. His total buy-and-sell volume across the year was INR 9,60,000. His actual net gain, calculated as sale price minus cost of acquisition per disposal, was INR 36,000. The breakdown is:
Detail | Figure |
Total trade volume on ZebPay, FY 2025-26 (combined buys and sells) | INR 9,60,000 |
Actual net gain (sale price minus cost of acquisition) | INR 36,000 |
Figure shown in AIS from ZebPay SFT filing | INR 9,60,000 |
Figure Aditya entered in Schedule VDA (correct) | INR 36,000 |
Tax at 30% under Section 115BBH on INR 36,000 | INR 10,800 |
4% health and education cess on INR 10,800 | INR 432 |
Total tax payable | INR 11,232 |
AIS vs ITR discrepancy | INR 9,24,000. This exceeds the INR 1 lakh Project Insight threshold by more than 9x. |
Outcome | If Aditya doesn’t reconcile the discrepancy in his ITR, a Section 148A NUDGE notice can be issued. |
Why Does it Happen?
ZebPay files your combined buy-and-sell volume with the ITD through SFT (Statement of Financial Transactions). If you bought Rs 5,00,000 worth of Ethereum and sold it for Rs 5,40,000, your actual gain is Rs 40,000. Your AIS entry reads Rs 10,40,000. The ITD sees the total volume of both sides of that trade, not the net outcome.
How Common Is It?
The ratio between your AIS figure and your actual taxable gain is not fixed. It depends on how actively you trade. A trader who buys and sells the same holding four times in a year generates eight times the volume for a single position, while the actual gain stays unchanged.
What Is the Consequence?
A discrepancy above Rs 1 lakh between AIS and your filed ITR can trigger a NUDGE notice under Project Insight. The notice asks you to explain the difference before the ITD raises an assessment order. To fix this, calculate your actual gain from your ZebPay transaction CSV, not from your AIS, then reconcile that figure against the AIS entry before you file.
How to Download Your ZebPay TDS Certificate and Transaction History
ZebPay uses a single statement request system for both your TDS certificate and your full transaction history. Both are requested the same way, just with a different statement type selected.
Downloading Your TDS Certificate
- Open the ZebPay app and tap the menu icon in the top left corner.
- Select “Statement” from the side menu.
- Choose “TDS Certificate” as your statement type.
- Select your date range.
- Tap “Submit.” Your TDS certificate will be sent to your registered email within 15 minutes.
ZebPay does issue TDS certificates directly through this process. If your certificate does not arrive, check your AIS on incometax.gov.in to see the TDS recorded against your PAN from ZebPay trades.
Downloading Your Transaction History
- Follow the same menu path: open the side menu and select “Statement.”
- Choose “Trade” or “Consolidated Account Statement” as your statement type, depending on whether you need trade data only or your complete account activity.
- Select your date range.
- Tap “Submit,” and ZebPay will send the file to your registered email.
You can request up to 15 statements per day, and the same steps work on desktop through web.zebpay.com if you prefer a larger screen.
Common Misconceptions About ZebPay and ITD Reporting
Several assumptions about ZebPay’s reporting to the ITD circulate among Indian crypto traders, and most of them lead to under-compliance rather than confident filing. Each one contains a partial truth that misses the rest of the rule. The five misconceptions below most often arise among ZebPay users.
My Exchange Doesn't Report My Trades to the ITD
This is incorrect. ZebPay is FIU-IND-registered and a mandated reporting entity. It files SFT data annually and per-transaction statements under Section 509(1) from FY 2025-26, and deducts TDS under Section 194S.
The TDS ZebPay Deducts Already Covers My Tax
TDS under Section 194S is an advance payment against your final liability, not the liability itself. Your actual tax is 30 percent of your net gain plus 4 percent cess under Section 115BBH, and Schedule VDA still needs to be filed. Skipping this filing can attract a penalty under Section 234F, even if TDS was correctly deducted.
The Figure in My AIS Is My Correct Taxable Income
Your AIS may reflect transaction volume rather than your net proceeds, as shown in the Aditya example earlier. The correct figure to report is your actual gain, calculated from the sale price minus the cost of acquisition, not whatever number appears in your AIS.
P2P or DEX Trades Are Invisible to the ITD
P2P transactions still require the buyer to deduct TDS under Section 194S, creating a reporting trail even outside a centralized exchange. On-chain activity, including DEX trades, is also publicly traceable on the blockchain itself.
Only Cash Out to INR Is Taxable
Every VDA disposal is taxable under Section 115BBH, regardless of whether you convert to INR. Crypto-to-crypto swaps, including trading one token for another on ZebPay, are taxable events the moment the transfer happens.
How to Report Your ZebPay Trades Correctly
Getting this right comes down to three steps: calculating what you actually earned, checking that figure against your AIS, and filing it correctly in your ITR.
Calculate Your Actual Gains
Work out your gain for each VDA disposal by subtracting the cost of acquisition from the sale price, using your downloaded ZebPay transaction history. This figure will not match your AIS, and that is expected since the AIS reflects volume, not net proceeds.
Reconcile Against Your AIS
Compare your calculated gain against the figure shown in your AIS. If the AIS number is higher, confirm whether the gap comes from combined trade volume, a missing transfer, or a TDS mismatch, as covered in the AIS overstatement section above.
File Schedule VDA in ITR-2 or ITR-3
Report each VDA disposal individually in Schedule VDA, carrying forward your TDS as a credit against your final tax. Where your filed figure differs from your AIS, attach a brief reconciliation note explaining the gap. This single step is what closes the AIS mismatch risk and significantly reduces NUDGE or Section 148A exposure.
Manually pulling your ZebPay history and running these calculations by hand works, but it takes time that most active traders do not have during filing season. Instead, you can integrate your ZebPay account to KoinX to have it all done automatically. ZebPay supports a direct one-tap integration with KoinX that handles all three steps automatically, including the AIS reconciliation.
To connect your ZebPay account to KoinX:
- Open the ZebPay app and tap the menu icon in the top left corner.
- Go to “My Account,” scroll to “Account Integrations,” and tap “Tax Report with KoinX.”
- Review the data-sharing terms covering your email, name, and transaction data, then tap “Agree & Proceed.”
- KoinX opens automatically and imports your full ZebPay history, processes it, and calculates your taxes within seconds.
After these three steps are complete, your ZebPay transaction data is imported into KoinX. You can review your transactions in the KoinX dashboard, verify the auto-classified entries, and generate your Schedule VDA-ready report for ITR-2 or ITR-3.
Conclusion
ZebPay reports your trades through TDS deductions under Section 194S, annual SFT filings, and per-transaction statements under Section 509(1) from this financial year. This gives the ITD a closer view of your account than most ZebPay traders assume, well before you sit down to file.
That visibility creates one real risk. Your AIS may show total trade volume rather than your net gain, and treating that inflated figure as accurate, or skipping reconciliation altogether, is what turns a routine filing into a Section 148A notice, though closing that gap takes only three steps.
Calculate your actual gain from your ZebPay history, check it against your AIS, and file Schedule VDA with a short note wherever the two numbers differ. If you would rather not run that reconciliation by hand every season, connect your ZebPay account to KoinX and let it handle the calculation for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I get a tax notice if I traded on ZebPay but did not file my ITR?
Yes, this is likely if your ZebPay trading activity appears in your AIS without a matching ITR. The ITD’s Project Insight system automatically flags this gap, and discrepancies above Rs 1 lakh typically trigger a NUDGE notice before escalating to a Section 148A reassessment.
What happens if my AIS shows a different figure than my actual gain?
This is expected, not a sign you have made an error. To make sure this doesn’t happen, calculate your real gain from your ZebPay transaction history as the sale price minus the cost of acquisition, then file that figure in Schedule VDA along with a short reconciliation note explaining the difference from your AIS.
Does ZebPay report crypto-to-crypto trades the same way as INR trades?
Yes. Every VDA disposal is taxable under Section 115BBH, including swapping one token for another, and ZebPay includes these trades in its SFT filing the same way it includes INR sales. There is no separate, lighter reporting category for crypto-to-crypto activity.
What if I already filed my ITR without reporting my ZebPay trades?
You can correct this by filing an Updated Return under Section 139(8A) within 24 months of the relevant assessment year. This requires completing Schedule VDA with the correct figures and paying any additional tax, interest, and the applicable updated-return surcharge.
How do I check what ZebPay has reported to the ITD?
You can do so by logging in to the income tax e-filing portal and opening your Annual Information Statement under the Services menu. Your ZebPay TDS and transaction data will appear there, usually under sections covering TDS credits and purchase or sale of VDAs.
