Koinly does an impressive job of automating crypto tax calculations, but with thousands of exchanges, wallets, and blockchains in play, occasional issues are inevitable. The good news is that most problems have straightforward fixes. This guide walks you through the most common Koinly issues and how to resolve them quickly.
Why Are My Wallet Balances Wrong?
Incorrect wallet balances are the single most common issue users encounter, and the cause is almost always one of two things:
Exceeding the free plan limit: If you import more than 10,000 transactions on the free plan, Koinly halts all calculations. This means wallet balances, dashboard data, and gains summaries may display incorrect numbers. The fix is to purchase a paid plan that covers your total transaction count, or delete excess transactions you don’t need.
Incomplete data: If you’ve only connected some of your exchanges or wallets, Koinly can’t see the full picture. For example, if you transferred Bitcoin from Coinbase to a Ledger wallet but haven’t added the Ledger, Koinly sees a withdrawal with no corresponding deposit — creating a balance discrepancy. The fix is to add all wallets and exchanges where you’ve held or moved crypto.
Why Is Koinly Matching My Transfers Incorrectly?
Koinly uses smart algorithms to automatically match withdrawals from one wallet with deposits into another, recognizing them as non-taxable transfers between your own accounts. However, this matching can go wrong when:
Similar amounts at similar times: If you moved 1 BTC from Binance to Coinbase and also moved 1 BTC from your Ledger to Trezor around the same time, Koinly might accidentally pair the wrong withdrawal with the wrong deposit.
Exchange delays: Some exchanges report deposits with a time lag, causing the timestamps to not align cleanly.
To fix mismatched transfers, delete the incorrectly matched transactions and manually create the correct transfer pairings. You can do this from the Transactions page by selecting the affected entries.
How Do I Handle Missing Cost Basis?
A missing cost basis means Koinly doesn’t know how much you originally paid for a particular asset. This usually happens when you imported an exchange account but didn’t import the wallet or exchange where you originally purchased the crypto. Without knowing the purchase price, Koinly can’t accurately calculate your gain or loss on the sale.
To resolve this, import the original source of the asset. If that’s not possible (for instance, the exchange no longer exists), you can manually add a deposit transaction with the correct cost basis and date. Koinly also lets you set a default cost basis for unmatched assets in the settings.
How Do I Import Data From an Unsupported Exchange or Wallet?
Even if your exchange or wallet isn’t in Koinly’s list of 800+ integrations, you can still import your data. Create a “custom wallet” in Koinly and upload a CSV file formatted according to Koinly’s universal template. The template requires columns for date, type (deposit/withdrawal/trade), sent amount, sent currency, received amount, received currency, and fee. Koinly’s help center provides a downloadable template and detailed formatting instructions.
Why Do I See Gains on Transfers?
Transfers between your own wallets are not taxable events — but the network fee you pay to execute the transfer might be. If you paid a fee in crypto (for example, ETH gas fees), that fee is technically a disposal of an asset and may trigger a small capital gain or loss. Koinly tracks these automatically. If you don’t want transfer fees treated as disposals, you can toggle the “Treat transfer fees as disposals” setting off in your account preferences.
What Should I Do About Spam Tokens?
Many blockchain wallets accumulate unsolicited “spam” or “airdrop” tokens that were never requested. Koinly automatically excludes the majority of spam tokens and dust rewards from your transaction count. If a spam token has slipped through and is affecting your calculations, you can manually tag it as spam or delete the transaction entirely.
Koinly Support Is Here to Help
If you’ve tried the steps above and still can’t resolve your issue, Koinly offers in-app live chat support with knowledgeable agents who can walk you through complex scenarios. The help center at support.koinly.io also contains hundreds of articles and step-by-step guides for virtually every situation.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Why are my Koinly balances wrong?
A: Usually because you’ve exceeded the free plan’s 10,000 transaction limit (which pauses calculations) or because not all wallets and exchanges have been connected.
Q: Why is Koinly pairing the wrong transfers?
A: Koinly’s algorithms can mismatch transfers when similar amounts are moved between multiple wallets at similar times. Delete the incorrect matches and manually create the correct pairings.
Q: How do I fix missing cost basis in Koinly?
A: Import the original exchange or wallet where you purchased the asset. If that’s not possible, manually add a deposit transaction with the correct purchase price and date.
Q: Can I use Koinly with an exchange it doesn’t support?
A: Yes. Create a custom wallet in Koinly and upload your transaction history via a CSV file using Koinly’s universal template format.
Q: Why do transfers show a gain or loss?
A: Network fees paid in crypto during transfers may be treated as a taxable disposal. You can toggle this off in Koinly’s settings under “Treat transfer fees as disposals.”
Q: How do I remove spam tokens from Koinly?
A: Tag the unwanted transaction as spam or delete it manually. Koinly automatically excludes most spam tokens and dust rewards from your count.
Q: How do I contact Koinly support?
A: Use the in-app live chat for real-time help, or browse the help center at support.koinly.io for detailed guides and troubleshooting articles.
| ⚠️ DISCLAIMER The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, legal, or investment advice, nor is it intended as a recommendation or suggestion to buy, sell, trade, or use any particular product, service, or platform. |
