Bitcoin Savings Plan in Austria: How the Purchase Price Is Calculated
Bought bitcoin through a savings plan? For multiple purchases Austria applies the moving average price as a matter of principle when working out taxable gains.
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Bitcoin Savings Plan in Austria: How the Moving Average Price Is Calculated for Tax
Bitcoin savings plans spread the purchase across many individual transactions. Anyone investing 200 euros a month, for instance, inevitably buys their bitcoin at different prices. For the later tax calculation the question therefore arises: which purchase price applies when only part of the coins is sold?
Austria uses the moving average price for this as a matter of principle. Where units of the same cryptocurrency are acquired one after another and held at the same crypto address, their acquisition costs are merged into a single average price. With a wallet, the wallet as a whole can serve as the relevant reference unit instead.
How the Calculation Works
An investor buys through a savings plan:
- 0.01 BTC for 300 euros
- 0.01 BTC for 400 euros
- 0.01 BTC for 500 euros
In total they then hold 0.03 BTC with acquisition costs of 1,200 euros.
The moving average price therefore comes to:
1,200 euros ÷ 0.03 BTC = 40,000 euros per BTC
If the investor subsequently sells 0.01 BTC, acquisition costs of 400 euros are as a rule attributed to that portion.
What is not decisive, then, is whether the bitcoin sold are the ones bought first, last or at a particular price.
Every New Savings Plan Purchase Shifts the Average
The average price is not fixed for good. Every further purchase of the same cryptocurrency at the same relevant address or wallet changes it.
Anyone buying a further 0.01 BTC for 600 euros, for example, then holds:
- 0.04 BTC
- total acquisition costs: 1,800 euros
- new average price: 45,000 euros per BTC
At the next taxable sale this updated average price is used as a matter of principle. The Austrian crypto asset regulation prescribes this method both for the capital gains tax deduction and for the income tax assessment.
To the Tax Tools ComparisonSeveral Wallets Can Carry Different Average Prices
Anyone spreading their savings plan holdings across several wallets should note that not all of a person's bitcoin are automatically merged into a single average price. The Austrian rules attach in principle to the respective crypto address or wallet. As a result, two wallets holding bitcoin belonging to the same person can carry different acquisition costs for tax purposes.
With an Austrian provider obliged to withhold capital gains tax, that provider may determine whether the individual address or the wallet as a whole is used as the reference unit. Once used, this reference unit is then also decisive for the assessment.
Legacy Bitcoin Holdings Are Treated Separately
One important exception concerns bitcoin acquired up to and including February 28, 2021. Such legacy assets are not included in the moving average price of the newer holdings. Bitcoin for which flat-rate acquisition costs were applied because tax data was missing likewise do not feed into the normal average price. Despite regular savings plan purchases, investors may therefore face a tax separation between older and newer holdings.
To the Tax Tools ComparisonWhen Does Tax Actually Arise?
The savings plan purchase itself does not as a rule trigger income tax on price gains. The holding becomes relevant for tax purposes above all on a later realisation, for instance on a sale for euros. For bitcoin acquired after February 28, 2021, realised gains are as a rule subject to the special tax rate of 27.5 percent. The holding period plays no role in principle.
Example:
- average acquisition costs: 40,000 euros per BTC
- sale of 0.1 BTC at a price of 70,000 euros
- sale proceeds: 7,000 euros
- acquisition costs: 4,000 euros
- taxable gain: 3,000 euros
At 27.5 percent this produces a tax of 825 euros as a matter of principle.
Conclusion
With a bitcoin savings plan, Austria does not work out the acquisition price for tax separately for each unit sold. For bitcoin of the same kind acquired one after another at the same relevant address or wallet, the moving average price applies in principle. Every new savings plan purchase shifts that average. Legacy holdings from before March 2021 and certain flat-rate valued holdings, by contrast, are treated separately. With long-running savings plans in particular, investors should therefore document purchase history, wallet transfers and the tax cost basis used in each case on a lasting basis.
(As of August 24, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)
Transparency note: This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by our editorial team before publication. All figures and claims were checked against the primary sources linked in the text.
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