Crypto tax in the Netherlands

For holding and ordinary management of crypto, the tax base is the net value of all Box 3 assets on January 1. Only the part above a tax-free threshold of 59,357 euros counts, and the deemed return on it is taxed at 36 percent, according to the CMS guide to Dutch crypto taxation. A sale for euros, a swap into another token or a payment with crypto triggers no income tax in Box 3.

Losses cannot be set off directly; they only lower the asset value on the next January 1. Staking and airdrops normally stay in Box 3 as well, as Simmons & Simmons describes.

In 2021 the Dutch Supreme Court found that Box 3 breached the European Convention on Human Rights where the deemed return exceeds what an investor really earned. Under the transitional rules a taxpayer can now show a lower actual return and be taxed on that. The planned new Box 3 taxes accrued, unrealized gains on most assets, which would include crypto, and is expected to apply from 2028.

For a crypto investor the reform turns the system around. A rising token would be taxed each year on its increase in value, sold or not, while a falling one would produce a loss. Volatile holdings are where the two systems differ most.

When trading goes beyond ordinary asset management, or mining is run as a business, the income falls into Box 1 at progressive rates up to 49.5 percent, and losses count directly. A company pays corporate income tax on all crypto income, at 19 percent on profits up to 200,000 euros and 25.8 percent above. Crypto holdings must be declared in the income tax return, and DAC8 makes providers report client data to the tax office from 2026. A wrong declaration can cost a fine of up to 300 percent of the tax due.

Finance Loop is the meeting place for investors and wealth managers who hold crypto next to shares and bonds, and for the tax advisers who work for them. Its masterclass Bitcoin for Investors covers portfolio fit, access routes and custody models, and the German and Austrian tax rules have their own pages for comparison. Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities at events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

Not as a private investor. Box 3 taxes a deemed return on the value of all assets on January 1, crypto included, and ignores the actual gain on a sale. A professional trader is taxed in Box 1 on actual income.

The deemed return on net assets above the tax-free threshold is taxed at 36 percent, per the CMS guide. Since the Supreme Court ruling of 2021, a taxpayer can show a lower actual return and be taxed on that.

Not in Box 3. A swap changes the composition of the assets, and only their value on January 1 matters. In Box 1 or for a company, a swap can lead to taxable income.