Tax by country
Germany — tax on crypto and investments
Finanzämter (assessment), Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt, central reporting), guidance by the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF). Tax year 1 January – 31 December (calendar year). Last verified 28-10-2026.
| Country | Currency | Tax year | Authority | Last verified | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE | EUR | 1 January – 31 December (calendar year) | Finanzämter (assessment), Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt, central reporting), guidance by the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF) | 28-10-2026 | approved by the owner (accountant), 28-10-2026 |
Related article: hq-fs.com/blog/crypto-tax-germany
Not tax advice. Rules summarised from official sources, linked where each rule is stated, as verified on the date above. Confirm with a qualified adviser before filing.
Scope: individuals holding crypto and securities as private assets (Privatvermögen). Business assets (Betriebsvermögen) are noted only where the rule differs.
At a glance#
Capital gains#
Crypto (§23 EStG, private sale transactions)#
The rules below follow the BMF letter of 06-03-2025 (cited by margin number, Rz) and §23 EStG.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Taxable event | Sale for EUR, swap into other crypto, payment for goods/services (BMF Rz 54) |
| Taxable window | Acquisition to disposal not more than one year (BMF Rz 53) |
| Clock reset | Restarts after every swap (BMF Rz 55) |
| Timestamps | CEX: platform-recorded times. DEX / direct: wallet times (BMF Rz 55) |
| 10-year extension (§23(1) Nr. 2 S. 4) | Not applied to currency / payment tokens, also when staked or lent. Same position in the 2022 and 2025 letters (BMF Rz 63) |
| Rate | Personal progressive rate (§32a): 0% to 45% |
| Gain | Proceeds − acquisition cost − related costs (Werbungskosten). Fees on disposal are Werbungskosten (BMF Rz 57, 59) |
| Swap proceeds | Market value of the crypto received; if not determinable, value of crypto given (BMF Rz 58) |
| Cost of crypto received in a swap | Market value of crypto given plus incidental costs (BMF Rz 59) |
| Freigrenze 2024+ | Whole-year total of all §23 gains less than EUR 1,000 → all tax-free. At EUR 1,000 or more → the full amount is taxable (BMF Rz 53) |
| Freigrenze to 2023 | Less than EUR 600 (BMF Rz 53) |
| Losses | Offset only against §23 gains of the same year; carry back 1 year / forward via §10d |
| UTXO change output | Keeps original acquisition data (BMF Rz 56) |
| Hard fork | Not income. New coins take the old coins' acquisition date; cost split by market values at the fork (BMF Rz 67–68) |
Freigrenze example (2025): total §23 gain EUR 999 → tax EUR 0 on it. Total EUR 1,000 → EUR 1,000 taxable, not EUR 0.
Trading as a business#
Securities and funds (Abgeltungsteuer)#
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Rate | 25% of capital income |
| Solidarity surcharge | 5.5% of the tax |
| Church tax | Reduces the 25% via formula (e − 4q)/(4 + k) |
| Günstigerprüfung | On request, taxed at progressive rate if lower; all capital income together |
| Sparer-Pauschbetrag | EUR 1,000 single, EUR 2,000 joint — a deduction (Freibetrag) |
| Lot order | Fungible securities in collective custody: FIFO |
| Losses | Not against other income types; carry forward only. Share-sale losses only against share-sale gains |
| Derivatives / bad debt limits | The EUR 20,000 caps (§20(6) S. 5–6) no longer apply in all open cases (background) |
| Fund partial exemption (Teilfreistellung) | Equity funds 30%, mixed funds 15%, real-estate funds 60% of income exempt |
Income#
Treatment per the BMF letter of 06-03-2025, by margin number (Rz).
| Activity | Treatment (private assets) | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Passive staking (pool, platform) | §22 Nr. 3 other income (Rz 48, 48a) | Market value on receipt. Simplification: time of claiming; unclaimed rewards at latest at year end |
| Lending | §22 Nr. 3 other income (Rz 65) | Market value on receipt |
| Mining / forging, sustained | Business income §15; not private asset management (Rz 35–43) | Market value at acquisition (§6(6)) |
| Mining / forging, not sustained | §22 Nr. 3 (Rz 45, 47) | Market value; hardware, software, power deductible |
| Masternode | As proof-of-stake block creation (Rz 50) | — |
| Airdrop with a service (social post, personal data, uploads) | §22 Nr. 3 (Rz 70–73) | Market value; EUR 0 if no market price yet |
| Airdrop without a service | No §22 Nr. 3 income; gift tax may apply (Rz 74) | — |
| Hard fork | No income (Rz 68) | — |
| §22 Nr. 3 threshold | Not taxable if all §22 Nr. 3 income in the year is less than EUR 256 (Freigrenze, cliff; BMF Rz 45) | — |
Coins received as income are an acquisition. Their later sale falls under §23 with a new one-year clock from receipt. (BMF Rz 54, 75)
Income-tax basic allowance (Grundfreibetrag):
| Year | Amount |
|---|---|
| 2024 | EUR 11,784 (raised retroactively) |
| 2025 | EUR 12,096 |
| 2026 | EUR 12,348 |
Top rate 45% from EUR 277,826 taxable income (2026).
Cost basis and record keeping#
Lot order (Verwendungsreihenfolge)#
Per the BMF letter of 06-03-2025:
| Step | Rule |
|---|---|
| 1 | Specific identification (Einzelbetrachtung) where possible (Rz 61) |
| 2 | If not possible: first acquired units of a token name are deemed sold first, for the holding period (Rz 61) |
| 3 | Value: average cost (Durchschnittsmethode); FIFO allowed as a simplification (Rz 61) |
| Scope | Per wallet (walletbezogen). The method is kept until all units of that token in that wallet are sold; then it may change. Separate choice per token (Rz 62) |
| Prices | Market price at the second of the trade (platform or list such as CoinGecko / CoinMarketCap). Daily price (average, fixed time, or close) accepted if documented and used consistently for both cost and proceeds (Rz 43, 91) |
Records the BMF expects (2025 letter, new chapter Rz 87–105)#
Per the BMF letter of 06-03-2025:
| Duty | Content |
|---|---|
| Burden of proof | Information on wallets and platforms is in the taxpayer's sphere. A public key alone is not sufficient proof (Rz 87) |
| Foreign CEX and DEX | Extended duty to cooperate (erweiterte Mitwirkungspflicht, §90(2) AO): fetch full transaction histories regularly. Lost data (insolvency, hack) counts against the taxpayer (Rz 89) |
| Tax reports | Accepted if plausible, complete and consistent. Include report settings (price source, FIFO/average) and mark and explain manual adjustments (Rz 90) |
| Per disposal | Token, quantity, cost, proceeds, dates, prices, holding period (Rz 102) |
| Per lending / §22 Nr. 3 item | Start, end, object, fee, terms (Rz 102) |
| On request | Acquisition type, EUR fees, price source, method chosen per wallet, transfers between wallets, wallet balances at 31 Dec, addresses, tx hashes, account details (Rz 103–104) |
| Missing data | Tax office estimates (§162 AO); estimate not a penalty (Rz 92) |
| Retention, high earners | Surplus income over EUR 500,000 (EUR 750,000 from 1 Jan 2027): keep records 6 years (§147a AO) (Rz 105) |
| Business assets | GoB / GoBD; crypto software needs a process documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation); tax-office data access §147(6) AO (Rz 93–99) |
| Transition | Price methods and records that deviate from Rz 87 ff. are not challenged for assessment years up to and including 2024 (Rz 106) |
No same-day or 30-day matching rule exists for crypto under §23 or the BMF letter.
Indirect taxes#
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Fiat ↔ crypto exchange | VAT-exempt service, §4 Nr. 8 b UStG (CJEU Hedqvist C-264/14). Applies to platforms acting in their own name (BMF letter 27-02-2018, III C 3 - S 7160-b/13/10001) |
| Paying with crypto | Crypto treated like legal tender; the payment itself is not a supply |
| Standard / reduced VAT rate | 19% / 7% |
| Small-business scheme (Kleinunternehmer), 2025+ | Prior-year turnover ≤ EUR 25,000 and current-year ≤ EUR 100,000 |
| Transaction tax | None found |
Reporting and deadlines#
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Return deadline | 31 July of the following year |
| With adviser | Last day of February of the second following year |
| Crypto disposals, staking, lending | Anlage SO |
| Capital income | Anlage KAP; funds Anlage KAP-INV |
| DAC8 / KStTG | Crypto-asset service providers (incl. non-EU providers serving EU users) report customer identity (name, address, date of birth, tax ID) and transactions to the BZSt |
| First KStTG reporting period | Calendar year 2026 |
| First KStTG report due | 31 July 2027 (Haufe) |
| Penalties | Careless understatement §378 AO (fine); intentional §370 AO (tax evasion); voluntary disclosure (Selbstanzeige) may mitigate |
Recent and upcoming changes#
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| VZ 2024 | §23 Freigrenze EUR 600 → EUR 1,000 (BMF Rz 53) |
| VZ 2024 | Grundfreibetrag raised retroactively to EUR 11,784 |
| 05-12-2024 (JStG 2024) | EUR 20,000 loss caps for derivatives / bad debts removed for all open cases |
| 01-01-2025 | Kleinunternehmer thresholds EUR 25,000 / EUR 100,000 |
| 06-03-2025 | New BMF crypto letter (GZ IV C 1 - S 2256/00042/064/043) replaces 10-05-2022 letter. New: "crypto-assets" terminology, tax reports (Rz 29b), claiming (Rz 48a), second-accurate and daily prices (Rz 43, 58, 91), record-keeping chapter (Rz 87 ff.). NFTs and liquidity mining not yet covered |
| 2025 / 2026 | Grundfreibetrag EUR 12,096 / EUR 12,348 |
| 22-12-2025 | KStTG (DAC8) enacted, BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 352; applies from 01-01-2026 |
| 01-01-2027 | §147a AO retention threshold EUR 500,000 → EUR 750,000 (BMF Rz 105) |
| 31-07-2027 | First DAC8 reports to BZSt (for 2026) (Haufe) |
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