- The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is the competent authority for crypto-asset service providers under the EU MiCA Regulation, which Germany applies through the KMAG.
- For private individuals, selling crypto within one year of buying it is a taxable private sale, taxed at your personal income tax rate. After one year it is tax-free under the current law. The holding period rises to ten years if the crypto produced income.
- If your total gains from private sales in a calendar year are €1,000 or more, the whole amount is taxable. Below €1,000 it is tax-free.
- The Federal Ministry of Finance published a draft law on 30 September 2026 that would end the holding period. It is a draft and is not law.
- Crypto service providers report their users’ data to the Federal Central Tax Office from calendar year 2026. The first report is due by 31 July 2027.
This page covers private individuals and companies that hold, trade or accept crypto in Germany. It is general information, not legal or tax advice. Germany is a case where the rules may change soon, so read the section on upcoming changes.
Legal status
Germany implements the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) through the Kryptomärkteaufsichtsgesetz (KMAG). Under section 3 of that law, BaFin is the competent authority. BaFin says the MiCA rules for crypto-asset services have applied since 30 December 2024.
Providers that already operated under German law could continue until they received a decision on their MiCA authorization, but at the latest until the end of 31 December 2025 (section 50 KMAG). That deadline has passed. The German Banking Act (KWG) still defines “qualified crypto custody business”, which means keeping and managing crypto instruments for others or safeguarding private keys for others. BaFin says that a KWG custody license does not allow a firm to operate across borders in the EEA. Only MiCA providers can do that.
Stablecoins
According to BaFin, only credit institutions and e-money institutions can issue e-money tokens, and each e-money token needs a crypto-asset white paper. Companies that want to offer asset-referenced tokens to the public need BaFin’s authorization beforehand.
Tax for individuals
Section 23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) taxes private sales transactions. It applies to “other assets”, which is the category that crypto is placed in under the current law, when the time between buying and selling is not more than one year. Gain is the difference between the sale price and the cost of acquiring the asset plus the costs of earning the income. The Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) explains how this works for crypto in a letter. We could not open it for this guide, so we describe only what the statute says.
Holding period
- One year: a sale within one year of buying is a taxable private sale. After more than a year, the gain is not taxed under section 23.
- Ten years: if the asset produced income in at least one calendar year, the period rises to ten years.
The €1,000 limit
Gains from private sales stay tax-free if your total gain from private sales in the calendar year was less than €1,000 (in force since 2024). This is an exemption limit (Freigrenze), not an allowance. At €999 you pay nothing. At €1,000 the whole €1,000 is taxable.
Losses
Losses from private sales can only be set off against gains from private sales in the same calendar year. You cannot deduct them from other income. A loss that is not used can be carried back to the previous year or forward to later years, within the same category.
Income tax rates
Gains from private sales are taxed at the progressive income tax rate. There is no flat rate. The 2026 tariff for a single filer (section 32a EStG) is:
| Taxable income (2026, single) | Tax |
|---|---|
| Up to €12,348 | 0 (basic allowance) |
| €12,349 to €69,878 | Progressive: the marginal rate rises from 14% to 42% |
| €69,879 to €277,825 | 42% of the amount above the lower threshold |
| From €277,826 | 45% of the amount above the lower threshold |
Other income
Section 22 no. 3 EStG covers other income, which is not taxable if it was less than €256 in the calendar year. The statute does not mention crypto. How the tax authorities classify income such as staking, lending, mining and airdrops is set out in the BMF letter, which we could not open. We therefore do not describe those cases.
Upcoming changes
The one-year rule may end. On 30 September 2026 the Federal Ministry of Finance published a draft law titled “Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Reform der Besteuerung bestimmter Kryptowerte im Privatvermögen”. According to the part of it we could read through search results, income from crypto would in future be taxed as income from capital assets, independently of the holding period. We could not open the draft itself, so we cannot confirm the start date, the tax rate or the transition rules. Press and advisory reports mention a start on 1 January 2027 and a cabinet discussion on 14 October 2026. Those reports are not official sources. A draft is not law: until a law is passed, the rules above apply.
A separate bill from the Green parliamentary group (Bundestag document 21/5752, 5 May 2026) proposes taxing private crypto gains regardless of the holding period. We do not know its outcome.
Tax for companies
Corporations pay corporate income tax (Körperschaftsteuer). Section 23 of the Corporate Income Tax Act sets a stepped reduction of the rate:
| Assessment year | Corporate income tax rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 2027 | 15% |
| 2028 | 14% |
| 2029 | 13% |
| 2030 | 12% |
| 2031 | 11% |
| From 2032 | 10% |
The solidarity surcharge is 5.5% of the corporate tax, so 15% corporate tax plus the surcharge is 15.825%. Trade tax comes on top: the trade tax measure rate is 3.5% of trade income, and each municipality sets its own multiplier (Hebesatz). The €24,500 allowance applies only to individuals and partnerships, not to corporations. We could not confirm from official sources how crypto in business assets is treated or how VAT applies, so we do not describe them.
Reporting and filing obligations
Individuals. You declare private sales in the form Anlage SO. For the 2025 tax year, the tax authority’s ELSTER help says that lines 45 to 49 and 56 and 57 are for crypto when the time between buying and selling was not more than one year. If your total gains from private sales were below €1,000, you do not have to enter them. The general deadline in section 149 of the General Fiscal Code is seven months after the end of the calendar year, which means 31 July of the following year.
Providers (KStTG). Germany implements the EU DAC8 and the OECD crypto reporting framework in the Kryptomarkt-Steuertransparenzgesetz (KStTG). The duties apply for the first time for calendar year 2026. Providers report every year by 31 July for the previous year to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt), so the first report is due by 31 July 2027. Crypto operators without a MiCA license must register once with the BZSt before the first reporting deadline.
Exchanges and KYC
An exchange or custodian that serves customers in Germany needs a MiCA authorization from BaFin. Providers of crypto-asset services are obliged parties under the Money Laundering Act (GwG), so they must identify you. Under section 10(3) GwG, the due diligence duties also apply to crypto transfers worth €1,000 or more at the time of the transfer. We could not read the EU Transfer of Funds Regulation text for this guide, so we do not describe its travel rule in detail.
Self-custody
We found no German rule that bans or licenses private wallets. Keeping crypto for others is a licensed activity under the KWG and MiCA, but keeping your own is not. Section 23 EStG taxes sales. We could not open the BMF letter on how wallet transfers and lost private keys are treated, so we do not describe those cases.
Sources
- Gesetze im Internet: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 23 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 22 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 32a (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Körperschaftsteuergesetz, § 23 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Solidaritätszuschlaggesetz, § 4 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Gewerbesteuergesetz, § 11 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Gewerbesteuergesetz, § 16 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Abgabenordnung, § 149 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Kryptomarkt-Steuertransparenzgesetz, § 9 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Kryptomarkt-Steuertransparenzgesetz, § 21 (last checked October 2026)
- BZSt: DAC8, Registrierung (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Kryptomärkteaufsichtsgesetz, § 3 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Kryptomärkteaufsichtsgesetz, § 50 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Kreditwesengesetz, § 1 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Geldwäschegesetz, § 10 (last checked October 2026)
- BaFin: Merkblatt zu Kryptowerte-Dienstleistungen (last checked October 2026)
- BaFin: Kryptoverwahrgeschäft (last checked October 2026)
- BaFin: Emission von ART und EMT (last checked October 2026)
- ELSTER: Hilfe zur Anlage SO 2025 (last checked October 2026)
- Deutscher Bundestag: Kurzmeldung zum Gesetzentwurf zur Besteuerung von Kryptowerten (last checked October 2026)
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules and rates change, so check the official sources above before you act.