Crypto taxes in Germany

Interest, dividends and gains on shares, bonds and fund units held by a private person are investment income. The bank withholds the flat tax of 25 percent under section 32d of the Income Tax Act (EStG), plus the solidarity surcharge and church tax where it applies. How long the investor held the security makes no difference.

Crypto assets such as bitcoin and ether fall outside that system. The tax authorities treat them as assets of their own, so a sale is a private disposal under section 23 EStG, the same rule that covers physical gold. A gain is taxed at the personal income tax rate if one year or less passes between purchase and sale. After more than one year the gain is tax-free, with no upper limit.

Every swap counts as a sale. Exchanging bitcoin for ether or for a stablecoin realizes the gain on the coins given away, and a new one-year period starts for the coins received. Paying for goods or services with crypto is a sale as well. Gains from all private disposals in a calendar year stay tax-free if their total is less than 1,000 euros. This is an exemption limit: at 1,000 euros or more, the entire gain is taxable.

Section 23 extends the holding period to ten years for assets that earned income in at least one calendar year. The Federal Ministry of Finance states in its letter on the income tax treatment of crypto assets (in German) that this extension does not apply to crypto, so coins used for staking or lending are tax-free after one year. Losses from sales within the year can only be set off against gains from other private disposals. Both gains and losses go on the Anlage SO form of the income tax return.

Staking rewards and interest from lending crypto are other income under section 22 no. 3 EStG. They are taxed at the personal rate in the year they are received, valued in euros at that moment. Income of this kind stays tax-free if its total for the year is less than 256 euros. Coins received as rewards start their own one-year period for a later sale.

The one-year rule covers private assets only. A company that holds crypto, or a person who mines or runs validators as a business, pays tax on business income, where the holding period plays no role. The ministry's letter from March 2025 replaced the earlier letter from May 2022 and added a section on the records an investor has to keep and show the tax office on request, such as the transaction histories of exchanges and wallets.

The EU directive Directive (EU) 2023/2226, known as DAC8, extends the automatic exchange of tax information to crypto assets. Germany implemented it with the Kryptowerte-Steuertransparenz-Gesetz (KStTG) of December 22, 2025. Crypto service providers identify their customers, including the tax identification number, and report each calendar year to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) by July 31 of the following year. The first reporting year is 2026.

The tax rules stay the same under DAC8. The BZSt passes the platform data to the state tax offices and to the tax authorities of other EU countries, the way foreign banks already report account data under the Common Reporting Standard.

Sören Imöhl reported in WirtschaftsWoche (in German) on a draft bill of the Federal Ministry of Finance. It would tax gains on crypto bought after December 31, 2026, as investment income at the flat rate of 25 percent, whatever the holding period. Coins bought before that date would keep the one-year rule, and crypto service providers would withhold the tax from January 1, 2028. At the time of the report the draft was in early coordination within the federal government. Until a law passes the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, section 23 EStG applies as described above.

Finance Loop is the meeting place for investors and tax advisers in Germany who deal with crypto. It connects the finance, IT and AI communities, with events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

The masterclass Bitcoin for Investors compares the routes into bitcoin for professional investors, from direct holdings to exchange-traded products, and the custody model of each. Finance Loop is a founding member of the Bitcoin Bundesverband, the German bitcoin association, and has a long-term partnership with BTC-ECHO, which reported on the ministry's decision that staking does not extend the holding period (in German).

Yes, for a private investor. A gain on crypto sold more than one year after purchase is tax-free under section 23 EStG, with no upper limit, and staking or lending does not extend that period. A draft bill would end the rule for coins bought after December 31, 2026; it is not law.

A gain within the one-year period is taxed at the personal income tax rate, which runs from 14 to 45 percent under section 32a EStG, plus the solidarity surcharge where it applies. If all private disposal gains of the year total less than 1,000 euros, no tax is due on them.

Yes. Staking rewards are other income under section 22 no. 3 EStG, taxed at the personal rate when received, unless all such income of the year stays below 256 euros. A later sale of the reward coins within one year is a taxable private disposal.

Crypto service providers collect the customer's name, address and tax identification number and report the year's transactions to the Federal Central Tax Office by July 31 of the following year, starting with 2026. The tax rules stay as they are.