Crypto Tax in Germany: What Applies in 2026 and What Is Set to Change in 2027

Paying tax in the UK? Our UK crypto tax guide covers Capital Gains Tax at 18% or 24%, the £3,000 allowance and how to report to HMRC.

Updated on 24 October 2026: status of the reform brought up to date (draft bill of 30 September, cabinet date of 14 October without a decision), 2026 tax table and details of the draft added.

Gains from cryptocurrencies are tax-free in Germany if more than twelve months pass between purchase and sale. If you sell earlier, you pay your personal income tax rate of 14 to 45 percent, plus solidarity surcharge at higher incomes; gains below 1,000 euros a year remain tax-free. This applies to your 2025 and 2026 tax returns. A draft bill from the Federal Ministry of Finance would tax purchases from 2027 at a flat 25 percent, but the federal cabinet did not adopt it on 14 October 2026.

This guide explains the law as it applies now: which transactions trigger tax, how to calculate the holding period, what happens with staking and losses, and what the planned overhaul would mean for you. The free CryptoTicker tax calculator works out your own figures: it reads your exchange export, matches every sale with purchases under FIFO and shows the date from which each purchase becomes tax-free.

Key facts at a glance

• Legal basis: crypto assets held privately count as "other assets". Selling them is a private sale under section 23 of the German Income Tax Act.
• Twelve-month holding period: after more than one year, the gain is tax-free, in full and without any cap. Buying on 15 March 2026 means tax-free from 16 March 2027.
• Within one year: your personal tax rate applies. 10,000 euros of gains cost 3,339 euros with 40,000 euros of income and 4,699.80 euros with 80,000 euros (2026 tariff).
• 1,000 euro exemption limit: if the gain for the year stays below it, it is tax-free. From 1,000 euros, the entire gain is taxable.
• Losses: they can only be offset against gains from other private sales, not against share gains or salary.
• Reform: the draft of 30 September 2026 provides for 25 percent on purchases after 31 December 2026; the cabinet decision has been pending since 14 October.

How cryptocurrencies are taxed in Germany

For tax purposes, Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies are not securities. The Federal Fiscal Court confirmed this in its ruling of 14 February 2023 (IX R 3/22): crypto assets are economic assets, and selling them from private assets falls under section 23 of the Income Tax Act.

This results in the difference that shapes all German crypto taxation. Shares and funds are subject to the flat tax: 25 percent plus solidarity surcharge, regardless of how long you held them. With cryptocurrencies, the holding period decides instead, and the tax rate is your personal one.

The relevant administrative guidance is the BMF letter of 6 March 2025 on individual questions of the income tax treatment of certain crypto assets. It replaced the earlier letter of 10 May 2022. Guides online that still quote the 2022 version are out of date.

What triggers tax in the first place

The most common mistake is not about the amount of tax but about the timing. What becomes taxable is not the paper gain but the realisation, and more counts as realisation than most people expect.

The second point gets particularly expensive. Swapping one cryptocurrency for another is a sale and a purchase at the same time for tax purposes. Anyone who swaps Bitcoin for Ether realises the gain on the Bitcoin, even if no euro ever changed hands. A new twelve-month period starts for the Ether received.

The same applies to paying with cryptocurrency. Anyone who pays for an item with Bitcoin disposes of that Bitcoin for tax purposes.

Buying, holding and transferring between your own wallets, on the other hand, are not taxable. Moving coins from the exchange to a hardware wallet is not a disposal, does not interrupt the holding period and does not trigger tax.

Which transaction triggers what

Calculating the twelve-month holding period correctly

The period runs to the day from the date of acquisition and is tied to the individual position, not to your portfolio and not to the calendar year. If you buy on 15 March 2026, a sale is tax-free from 16 March 2027.

With several purchases of the same cryptocurrency, it gets more complicated. The BMF letter first requires specific identification: if you can prove which specific coins you sell, their acquisition date counts. If that is not possible, the coins acquired first count as sold first for the holding period, the so-called FIFO method. For valuation, the average cost method applies; for simplicity, FIFO may also be assumed there.

Two points are regularly overlooked. First, the assessment is per wallet, so every wallet and every exchange account is considered on its own; our article on FIFO across several exchanges and wallets shows how that works. Second, the method once chosen binds you until the holding is fully sold.

The once feared ten-year period no longer exists. For a long time it was unclear whether the holding period extends to ten years if crypto assets are used as a source of income, for example for staking. The tax authorities have expressly ruled this out. Staked coins can also be sold tax-free after twelve months.

You do not have to count by hand when the period ends for each purchase: the free CryptoTicker holding period and FIFO calculator shows the date from which each purchase is tax-free and the taxable part of each sale. It is our own tool, and your files and entries stay in your browser.

How high German crypto tax actually is

Within the twelve-month period, the gain is added to your other income and taxed at your personal rate. The top rate of 42 percent starts in 2026 at 69,879 euros of taxable income, 45 percent applies from 277,826 euros. The solidarity surcharge only applies once income tax exceeds 20,350 euros, which for single taxpayers means from around 75,000 euros of income. Church tax may be added.

The figures use the 2026 basic tariff for single taxpayers with solidarity surcharge and without church tax. At 80,000 euros of income, the rate is almost at the level of the top rate because the gain falls into the phase-in zone of the solidarity surcharge. The full table and a worked example with 2026 Bitcoin prices are in Calculating crypto tax.

On the same gain of 100,000 euros, the range is clear: after twelve months of holding, you pay nothing. Within the period and at the top rate, it is 47,475 euros. Under the draft bill, it would be 26,375 euros for purchases from 2027, regardless of the holding period.

The 1,000 euro exemption limit deserves particular attention because its name is misleading. An exemption limit is not an allowance. With a gain of 999 euros, you pay nothing. At 1,000 euros, you pay tax on the full 1,000 euros; with 50,000 euros of other income, that is 353 euros of tax. The limit applies to all private sales of a year together, including gold or collectibles, and for married couples separately for each person.

Staking, lending, mining and airdrops

Income from staking and lending is not a capital gain but income from other services under section 22 no. 3 of the Income Tax Act. It is valued at market value at the time of receipt and taxed at your personal rate. A separate exemption limit of 256 euros a year applies, which has nothing to do with the 1,000 euros of section 23. Details and a worked example are in our guide to staking taxes in Germany.

The market value at the time of receipt also becomes the acquisition cost of the coins received. If you sell them later, a separate twelve-month period runs from receipt.

With mining, the scale matters. Occasional mining falls under section 22 no. 3; sustained, profit-oriented mining is a business, with all consequences from trade tax to bookkeeping obligations. The tax authorities regularly assume a business activity for block rewards from operating your own hardware.

Airdrops are tax-free if you do nothing for them and provide no consideration. If the provider requires an action, such as filling in a form or advertising on social media, there is a service and the receipt is taxable.

Losses: a pot of their own

Losses from crypto sales within the one-year period can only be offset against gains from other private sales. Offsetting against salary, rental income or share gains is excluded. What remains for the year can be carried back one year or carried forward indefinitely.

This is a disadvantage compared with shares, where losses go into the capital income pot. But it has another side: anyone who realises crypto losses can use them to neutralise gains from other private sales, for example from selling gold within the one-year period.

The loss assessment is important. Losses that you do not report in Anlage SO of your tax return are lost for the future. The tax office only records them if they are declared. Which lines gains, losses and staking income go in is shown in our guide to the German crypto tax return.

Crypto tax reform 2027: what the draft provides

On 30 September 2026, the Federal Ministry of Finance sent the draft bill on reforming the taxation of certain crypto assets held as private assets to the associations. It would treat crypto assets as capital income under section 20 of the Income Tax Act: 25 percent flat tax plus solidarity surcharge, regardless of the holding period. The government had already announced the plan with the 2027 federal budget, which was introduced in the Bundestag on 8 September 2026.

Five points of the draft matter most for investors:

• The cut-off date lies in the future. Only crypto assets acquired or received after 31 December 2026 would be covered. What you buy until then would remain under today's rules with the one-year period. Details are in our article on grandfathering and the cut-off date.
• Two loss pots. Losses from new holdings would go into the capital income pot and could be offset there against interest and other capital income, within the limits of section 20(6) of the Income Tax Act. For existing holdings, the separate pot of section 23 remains.
• The exemption limit would become an allowance. For new holdings, the saver's allowance, which applies to all capital income together, would take its place.
• Withholding from 2028. The law is to enter into force on 1 January 2027, withholding by exchanges and custodians only from 1 January 2028.
• Substitute basis. If the exchange does not know the acquisition cost, for example for coins transferred in, it is to calculate the tax on 50 percent of the sale proceeds.

According to the draft, the ministry expects additional revenue with a full-year effect of 70 million euros for 2027, 175 million euros for 2028 and 350 million euros a year from 2029. We put these figures into context in our article on the 160 million euros in the federal budget.

None of this has been passed. On 8 October 2026, the Bundestag rejected the more far-reaching bill of the Greens, which wanted to abolish the holding period immediately, in a roll-call vote by 445 to 132. On 12 October, the Petitions Committee heard a petition to keep the period, and on 14 October the cabinet did not take the expected decision; the draft is still being coordinated between ministries. Cabinet, three readings in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat still lie ahead, and the tax rate and cut-off date can change at every stage. We record every new step in our overview of the status of the crypto holding period reform.

What you should document now

Regardless of how the reform turns out, your records decide your tax bill. Since 1 January 2026, crypto exchanges and custodians in the EU have been recording their customers' transactions. Under the Crypto Tax Transparency Act, they report the data every year by 31 July to the Federal Central Tax Office, for the first time in 2027 for 2026. The tax office will then know your exchange accounts.

You need four details for every position, permanently:

1. Acquisition date and time. The period runs to the day, and with several purchases on one day the time helps.
2. Acquisition cost in euros, including fees.
3. The wallet or exchange holding the position, because the assessment is per wallet.
4. Every transfer between your own addresses, so that a transfer is not treated as a sale.

If withholding comes in 2028, this becomes even more important: an exchange can only settle correctly if it knows your acquisition data. For holdings you transfer in from outside, it does not, and the substitute basis of 50 percent of proceeds is usually to your disadvantage.

With many transactions, a spreadsheet will not get you far. For simple cases, the CryptoTicker tax calculator is enough; for several exchanges, DeFi and staking, take a look at our crypto tax software comparison.

The same rules apply to Bitcoin, but some cases only arise there: a savings plan with twelve separate periods, the different taxation of ETPs and the question of a business in mining. We have written these up separately: Bitcoin and tax in Germany.

Correction (24 October 2026): An earlier version stated that the Federal Ministry of Finance had sent the draft bill into interministerial coordination on 8 September 2026. The draft is dated 30 September 2026; the 2027 federal budget was introduced on 8 September. The description of loss offsetting under the draft has also been made more precise: the capital income pot would only apply to new holdings.

Correction (29 September 2026): An earlier version described bill 21/5752 as rejected when the Finance Committee had only recommended its rejection (printed paper 21/6112). The Bundestag rejected it on 8 October 2026.

As of 24 October 2026. This article is neither tax advice nor investment advice and does not replace individual advice from a tax adviser. The legal situation may change.