Crypto holding period: the cabinet date passes without a decision, December 31 stays the cut-off

Germany's federal cabinet did not take up the abolition of the one-year holding period for crypto assets on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. The published results of its 62nd session make no mention of the measure, and the government press conference that followed did not address it either. Current law therefore stands: anyone who holds Bitcoin, Ether or any other crypto asset for more than a year and then sells it pays no income tax on the gain.

For investors in Germany that is a breathing space, not an outcome. The Federal Ministry of Finance told Blocktrainer on request that the internal government consultations were still running. The ministry named no new date for the cabinet to take up the file. The departmental draft that would delete the one-year rule thus remains what it has been since late September: a working paper from the finance minister's house that has not yet passed the cabinet.

What happened in the cabinet on October 14, and what did not

October 14 had been treated as a fixed date in coverage since the start of the month. We named it ourselves on October 3, in our reporting on the departmental draft, as the next step in the procedure. It did not materialise.

Blocktrainer reports that as early as the previous day the ministry had said it knew of no such date. Frank Schäffler, a former FDP member of the Bundestag, wrote on X that the abolition of the holding period was still stuck in interdepartmental consultation. Both accounts match the ministry's official statement.

A missing agenda item is not a withdrawal. Government measures slip as a matter of routine when departments are still arguing over detail. Only one thing is solid on this day: there is no cabinet decision, and without one there is no government bill.

Interdepartmental consultation: why a departmental draft is not yet law

The road from an idea inside the finance ministry to an amendment of the Income Tax Act runs through several stations, and each of them can take time. The departmental draft is the working version produced by a ministry's specialist unit. It has no legal effect and does not bind the federal government.

In interdepartmental consultation, the other ministries check the text against their own remits. Only once they agree can the cabinet adopt the draft. That decision turns the departmental draft into a government bill, which is then introduced in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Readings, committee deliberations and finally the assent of both chambers follow.

The measure is stuck at precisely that second station. Associations and interest groups had their chance to comment; according to Blocktrainer, responses were requested by October 6. The Federal Chamber of Tax Advisers publicly doubted that the submissions could be evaluated seriously in the time left.

Section 23 and Section 20 of the Income Tax Act: the difference decides your tax bill

Today, gains from the sale of crypto assets fall under Section 23 of the German Income Tax Act, which covers private disposal transactions. That provision carries two features crypto investors have benefited from for years. First, the one-year rule: after more than twelve months of holding, the gain is tax free. Second, the 1,000-euro exemption threshold for gains realised inside the period.

The finance ministry's draft moves crypto assets to Section 20, in other words to income from capital assets. There the flat withholding tax of 25 percent applies, plus the solidarity surcharge and, where relevant, church tax, regardless of how long someone has held their coins. The saver's allowance takes the place of the one-year rule.

In practice the shift means more than a different section number. Loss offsetting would be affected as well, together with the question of who withholds the tax and how much documentation the tax office demands. Our comparison of crypto tax software and portfolio trackers shows how to keep clean records of your transactions today; the documentation burden rises under either model.

December 31, 2026 separates old holdings from new ones

The most important figure in the draft is not the tax rate but the date of first application. Under the version on the table, the new rules would apply only to crypto assets acquired after December 31, 2026. Everything already sitting in a securities account or a wallet before that would stay under the old law, and therefore inside the one-year rule.

That gives investors a clear dividing line for as long as the draft keeps this shape. Purchases up to the turn of the year follow the existing rule. Purchases after it would fall under the flat withholding tax. A good eleven weeks separate today from that date.

One caveat belongs with it, and it is no formality: this cut-off sits in a draft that neither the cabinet has adopted nor the Bundestag has debated. It can move during the procedure, and with earlier tax measures that is exactly what happened more than once. Basing decisions on this date alone means planning around a number that carries no force of law.

Until new rules arrive, the one-year period applies unchanged

Nothing changes for the current tax year because the date was missed. Anyone who sold crypto assets in 2026 settles under Section 23 as it stands: a holding period of more than a year means no tax, below that the personal income tax rate applies, provided total gains from private disposal transactions exceed the 1,000-euro threshold.

The same holds for swaps. Moving from Bitcoin into a stablecoin or into another coin counts for tax purposes as a disposal and an acquisition at once. Every swap starts a fresh one-year period for the asset received. Reshuffling a portfolio in December may therefore move holdings out of the old regime and into a future one.

Petitions committee and chamber of tax advisers: where the headwind comes from

A second track runs alongside the government procedure. On Monday, October 12, 2026, the Bundestag's petitions committee considered a petition to keep the holding period in a public session. We covered the state of the parliamentary process in our piece on the Bundestag's handling of the crypto holding period.

A hearing in the petitions committee does not change tax law. It builds political pressure and forces the federal government to state a position. Combined with the Federal Chamber of Tax Advisers' criticism of the timetable, a picture emerges that makes the delay plausible: the measure is contested on technical and political grounds, and the consultation window was tight.

Resistance is therefore documented at two levels. What is not documented is how the federal government will respond. Whether it reworks the draft, stretches the timetable or takes it to the cabinet unchanged is open as matters stand.

Gold in the mix: how far the reform could reach

One side track in the debate goes beyond crypto assets. According to a report by BTC-Echo, the finance ministry has floated proposals to extend new rules to physical gold. The one-year speculation period under Section 23 applies there today as well.

That point is revealing for any assessment of the measure. If the reform went beyond crypto, considerably more investors would be affected, and political resistance would grow accordingly. That raises the likelihood of further delay, but says nothing about whether the reform arrives in the end.

Our assessment: the timetable for January 1, 2027 is ambitious

From the newsroom's point of view, entry into force on January 1, 2027 becomes less likely with every date that passes. The evidence is in the open. The draft went to association consultation in late September, responses were requested by October 6, and the cabinet decision expected on October 14 did not come. After the cabinet there are still three readings in the Bundestag, committee deliberation and the passage through the Bundesrat. A good eleven weeks remain in the year.

Against that, the federal government has not withdrawn the measure and the ministry speaks expressly of consultations in progress. Tax legislation has been pushed through the procedure in less time at year-end when the political will was there. We offer no forecast of the outcome; there is no solid basis for one.

What follows for practice is more modest than many posts online suggest: today's legal position is certain, the future one is not. Anyone who makes arrangements depend on a law that does not yet exist carries that risk alone.

Documentation: purchase date and acquisition cost per position

However the procedure ends, a cut-off rule has one consequence: the acquisition date of each individual position becomes the decisive record. Proving in 2027 that a holding was bought before the cut-off takes more than a bank statement.

Each position needs the date, the quantity, the acquisition cost in euros and the exchange or wallet where the purchase took place. Across several years and several platforms, that record does not assemble itself retroactively. Exchanges issue tax reports of varying quality; some provide complete transaction histories for export, others only annual summaries. The depth of those histories differs from venue to venue.

A second point concerns sequence. For crypto assets the tax office works on the FIFO method as a rule, first in, first out. Selling part of a holding therefore touches the oldest positions first, and under a future cut-off rule those are precisely the protected ones.

Crypto holding period: every purchase date counts up to December 31

The cabinet date has passed; the measure has not. These three steps make sense whatever the outcome of the procedure:

1. Record your holdings with purchase dates. Pull the date, quantity and acquisition cost for every position from your exchanges and wallets, and store the exports outside the platform. A tax tool or portfolio tracker handles the reconciliation across several providers.
2. Check where your oldest holdings sit. Because of the FIFO rule, the order of purchases decides which coins a sale hits first. You need that information before you reshuffle at year-end. At regulated crypto exchanges the full history is usually available for export.
3. Look at your venues on record quality. Anyone unable to export a full history has a documentation problem later. Our comparison of crypto exchanges shows which providers deliver usable tax reports.

There is no known next date for the procedure itself. Once the cabinet adopts the draft, the parliamentary stage begins, and only then will it be clear whether December 31, 2026 remains the dividing line.

(As of October 15, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)