Offsetting Bitcoin Losses Against Stock Gains in Austria

Bitcoin losses and stock gains: what Austrian tax law allows

Anyone in Austria who sells bitcoin at a loss and at the same time realises gains on shares can, in principle, offset the two positions against each other for tax purposes. The Austrian Finance Ministry confirms this expressly: gains and losses from cryptocurrencies held as private assets can be balanced against certain other investment income, including capital gains on shares.

This balancing between crypto and share positions does not happen automatically, however. Anyone holding bitcoin with a crypto platform and shares with a bank will regularly have to use the income tax assessment for it.

A bitcoin loss can reduce a stock gain

A simplified example:

• realised gain on shares: €10,000
• realised bitcoin loss: €4,000
• remaining positive investment income: €6,000
• If both positions are capable of being offset under the Austrian rules, the bitcoin loss thereby reduces the tax base.
• Both taxable bitcoin gains and capital gains on modern shareholdings are in principle subject to the special tax rate of 27.5 percent.

A mere price decline is not enough

What matters is that the bitcoin loss was actually realised. If the price merely falls in the wallet from €60,000 to €40,000, no loss arises for tax purposes in principle. Only a taxable realisation event, for instance a sale for euros, makes the loss relevant for loss offsetting. The same principle applies to shares: there too, a price decline is in principle only realised through a disposal that is relevant for tax.

Bank and crypto exchange do not offset against each other automatically

Within an Austrian securities account, the bank in principle carries out an automatic loss offset. Crypto service providers can likewise offset losses within the cryptocurrencies they administer.

An automatic loss offset between cryptocurrencies and other investment income is, however, expressly not permitted. The Finance Ministry names this case explicitly.

Example:

• Bank A withholds capital gains tax on a €8,000 gain on shares.
• Crypto platform B reports a €5,000 bitcoin loss.
• The bank does not know about the bitcoin loss and therefore does not automatically refund part of the withholding tax.
• The investor has to carry out the cross-provider offset through the income tax return.

Withholding tax already paid can come back

If the bank has already withheld 27.5 percent capital gains tax on a gain from shares, a bitcoin loss taken into account later can lead to a tax refund.

Example:

Gain on shares: €10,000
withholding tax already deducted: €2,750
bitcoin loss: €4,000

After the loss offset, €6,000 of positive investment income remains in principle.

At 27.5 percent, the tax on that comes to:

€1,650

The difference from the €2,750 of withholding tax already deducted amounts to €1,100. Subject to the relevant conditions, this amount can be refunded in the course of the assessment.

The loss offset applies only within the same year

Private capital losses can in principle only be set against suitable positive investment income of the same calendar year. A bitcoin loss from 2026 can therefore reduce a gain on shares from 2026, for example. If an unused private loss remains after that, it can in principle not simply be carried over into the next year. That makes the turn of the year relevant for investors in tax terms: unrealised losses are no help in a loss offset.

Not every kind of investment income may be offset

Austrian tax law sets limits.

Bitcoin losses can in principle be offset against positive income from capital assets taxed in the same way. That includes, among others:

• gains on shares,
• dividends,
• certain fund gains,
• other suitable crypto gains.

What is not permitted, by contrast, is offsetting against interest on bank deposits, for example. Nor can private bitcoin losses be offset at will against employment income or income from self-employment.

In simplified terms:

Bitcoin loss + gain on shares: possible in principle
Bitcoin loss + dividends: possible in principle
Bitcoin loss + savings account interest: not possible
Bitcoin loss + salary: not possible

Tax reporting makes the evidence easier

Since the 2025 calendar year, Austrian parties obliged to withhold capital gains tax have had to provide standardised tax reporting on request. Alongside banks, that includes certain crypto asset service providers. For investors with several providers this document can be particularly helpful. Anyone holding shares with a bank and bitcoin with a crypto platform, for instance, can use the respective tax reports to evidence gains, losses and withholding tax already paid in the income tax assessment.

What applies with foreign exchanges?

Bitcoin losses on foreign crypto exchanges can in principle also be relevant for the Austrian loss offset, provided the underlying income is to be taken into account for tax under Austrian law and the investor can evidence the losses.

An automatic Austrian withholding tax offset typically does not take place there.

What is required is therefore, in particular:

• complete transaction histories,
• acquisition costs,
• sale proceeds,
• fees,
• euro values of the transactions,
• foreign tax documents where applicable.

The Finance Ministry names a loss offset made across providers, or with foreign income, expressly as a case for the income tax assessment.

Conclusion

Bitcoin losses and gains on shares can in principle be offset against each other in Austria. Held as private assets, both belong to income from capital assets and are regularly subject to the same special tax rate of 27.5 percent. The decisive catch: the offset between crypto income and gains on shares does not happen automatically.

Anyone realising a gain on shares with a bank and a bitcoin loss with a separate crypto platform has in principle to apply for the loss offset through the income tax assessment. Withholding tax already deducted can be partly refunded as a result. It is also important that the losses were actually realised and arose, in principle, in the same calendar year as the gains to be offset.