- For a private individual, selling or swapping crypto within one year of buying it is a taxable private sale, taxed at your personal income tax rate (up to 45% in 2026). After more than one year the gain is tax-free under the current law.
- If your total gain from private sales in a calendar year is below €1,000, it is tax-free. At €1,000 or more, the whole amount is taxable (an exemption limit, Freigrenze).
- Passive staking and lending rewards are other income, taxable at their market value when received, unless your total other income in the year is below €256.
- A ministry draft of 30 September 2026 would tax crypto bought from 2027 as capital income at a flat 25%, whatever the holding period. At the time of writing (October 2026) the cabinet has not adopted it.
This page covers income tax for private individuals who hold crypto in Germany. How to declare it and the deadlines are on filing and deadlines; crypto held by a business is on business tax. It is general information, not tax advice.
How it works
Section 23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) taxes private sales transactions (private Veräußerungsgeschäfte). Crypto falls under “other assets”, and a sale is taxable when the time between buying and selling is not more than one year. The gain is the sale price minus the acquisition cost and the costs of the sale. The Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) explains how this applies to crypto in its letter of 6 March 2025 (BStBl I S. 658), which replaced the 2022 letter. Tax offices follow that letter; the points below follow the statute and the letter.
What counts as a sale
Selling crypto for euros, swapping one crypto-asset for another, and paying for goods or services with crypto are all sales. Each swap starts a new holding period for the coins you receive. If you cannot tell which coins you sold, the oldest coins of the same type count as sold first; you may also use first in, first out (FIFO) or an average method. You choose the method per wallet and must keep it until that wallet holds no more of that coin. Transaction fees for a sale reduce the gain. Moving coins between your own wallets is not a sale.
Holding period
The holding period (Haltefrist) is one year. The statute extends it to ten years for assets that were used to earn income, but the BMF letter (paragraph 63) says this extension does not apply to currency or payment tokens such as bitcoin and ether. Staking or lending your coins therefore does not change the one-year period.
The €1,000 limit
Gains from private sales stay tax-free if your total gain from all private sales in the calendar year was less than €1,000 (section 23(3) EStG, 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. For a married couple filing jointly, ELSTER says the limit applies to each person.
Losses
Losses from private sales can only be set off against gains from private sales in the same year. You cannot deduct them from salary or other income. A loss that is not used can be carried back to the previous year or forward to later years, but again only against private sales gains (section 23(3) EStG). Declaring a loss in your return is how you keep it.
Income tax rates
Taxable gains are added to your other income and taxed at the progressive income tax rate; there is no flat rate for crypto under the current law. The 2026 tariff for a single filer (section 32a EStG):
| Taxable income (2026, single) | Tax |
|---|---|
| Up to €12,348 | 0 (basic allowance, Grundfreibetrag) |
| €12,349 to €69,878 | Progressive: the marginal rate rises from 14% to 42% |
| €69,879 to €277,825 | 42% marginal rate |
| From €277,826 | 45% marginal rate |
For couples filing jointly, the tax is twice the tax on half their joint income (splitting). Solidarity surcharge and church tax can come on top, depending on your income and church membership.
A worked example
Our own example, following section 23 EStG: a single person buys bitcoin for €5,000 on 1 March 2026 and has no other private sales that year.
| Situation | Gain | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Sells on 1 November 2026 for €6,200 and pays a €20 fee | €6,200 − €5,000 − €20 = €1,180 | Taxable in full, because the gain is €1,000 or more and the holding period was less than a year. At a marginal rate of 30%, about €354 income tax. |
| Sells on 1 November 2026 for €5,990 and pays a €20 fee | €970 | Tax-free: below the €1,000 limit |
| Sells in April 2027 for €6,200 | €1,180 | Tax-free: held for more than one year |
| Swaps the bitcoin for ether on 1 November 2026, when it is worth €6,200 | €1,180 | Taxable as in the first row; a new one-year period starts for the ether |
This is an illustration, not a calculation for your situation. Your marginal rate depends on your other income, and other private sales in the same year count toward the €1,000 limit.
Mining and frequent trading
Mining and forging (creating blocks with proof of stake) count as acquiring new coins. According to the BMF letter they can be a commercial activity (Gewerbebetrieb); where that test is not met, for example because the activity is not sustained, the rewards are other income under section 22 no. 3 EStG. They are valued at their market price when received, and costs such as hardware and electricity can be deducted. If you buy and sell crypto very often, the tax office can treat it as a business, using the same tests as for frequent securities trading. Business profits are taxed whatever the holding period, and trade tax may apply; see business tax.
Staking, lending, airdrops and DeFi
- Passive staking and lending. Rewards are other income under section 22 no. 3 EStG (BMF letter, paragraphs 48 and 65), valued at their market price when received. As a simplification you may treat the time they reach your wallet as the time of receipt (paragraph 48a). They are tax-free if your total other income of this kind is below €256 in the year; at €256 or more the whole amount is taxable.
- Selling rewards. Coins received from staking or lending are treated as acquired when received, so selling them within one year is a private sale.
- Airdrops. They are other income if you had to do something for them, such as posting on social media or handing over personal data beyond what the transfer needs (paragraphs 70 and 71). Without any service in return they may be a gift (paragraph 74). Where no market price exists yet, they may be valued at €0.
- Hard forks. A hard fork does not create income. The new coins take over part of the acquisition cost and the purchase date of the original coins (paragraphs 67 and 68).
- DeFi and NFTs. The letter describes decentralized exchanges and says the general rules apply to trades there, but it has no specific rules for liquidity pools or yield farming. It explicitly does not cover NFTs (paragraph 5). For these we found no other official guidance.
You report these rewards in Anlage SO, lines 14 to 21 (2025 form); see filing.
Moving to or from Germany
You are fully taxable in Germany if you have a home (Wohnsitz) or your habitual abode there (section 1 EStG). A continuous stay of more than six months always counts as habitual abode, except a purely private stay of up to one year (section 9 of the Fiscal Code, AO). As a resident you are taxed on your worldwide income, including crypto gains on foreign exchanges.
- Moving to Germany. Section 23 looks at the time between buying and selling. We found no rule that resets the purchase date or cost of crypto you bring with you, so coins you bought abroad within the past year can be taxable if you sell them after you become resident. Keep the purchase records from before your move.
- Leaving Germany. Germany’s exit tax (section 6 of the Foreign Tax Act, AStG) applies to shares in companies, not to crypto held privately. After you leave, gains from private sales are German income for non-residents only for German land and similar rights (section 49(1) no. 8 EStG), not for crypto. Tax treaties and special rules for some people who move to low-tax countries can matter, so check your case with an adviser.
Inherited or gifted crypto keeps the purchase date of the person who gave it, so the heir can sell coins that person held for more than a year without income tax; inheritance tax (Erbschaftsteuer) is separate. Both are covered in this guide to crypto inheritance in Germany.
Upcoming changes
The one-year rule may end for new purchases. On 30 September 2026 the BMF published a ministerial draft (Referentenentwurf) of a law “zur Reform der Besteuerung bestimmter Kryptowerte im Privatvermögen” and sent it to the other ministries; the BMF says a cabinet decision is planned but has not published a date. At the time of writing (October 2026) the cabinet has not adopted it, and it is not law.
Under the draft, “exchange crypto-assets” (Tauschkryptowerte) such as bitcoin and ether would become capital income (section 20 EStG), so gains would be taxable whatever the holding period. Capital income is taxed at a flat 25% plus solidarity surcharge, with a saver’s allowance of €1,000 (€2,000 for joint filers). Income from lending and passive staking would be capital income too, and coins received for free or for minor activities, such as airdrops, would get an acquisition cost of €0. E-money tokens are excluded, and NFTs and security tokens keep their current treatment.
The new rules would apply from 1 January 2027, only to coins acquired or received after 31 December 2026; coins you hold before then stay under the one-year rule. From 1 January 2028, crypto service providers would withhold the tax. If a provider does not know your purchase price and you do not supply it, the draft has it assume a purchase after 2026 and withhold tax on 50% of the sale proceeds.
Two other items: on 2 September 2026 the cabinet adopted a separate income tax reform bill for 2027 that would raise the basic allowance to €12,564 (2027) and €12,900 (2028), apply the 45% rate from €250,000 and add a 47% rate from €280,000 of taxable income. It is a bill, not law. A bill from the Green parliamentary group to tax private crypto gains regardless of the holding period (Bundestag document 21/5752) received a recommendation to reject it from the Finance Committee on 20 May 2026 (document 21/6112).
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: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 1 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 49 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 20 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Einkommensteuergesetz, § 32d (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Abgabenordnung, § 9 (last checked October 2026)
- Gesetze im Internet: Außensteuergesetz, § 6 (last checked October 2026)
- BMF: Einzelfragen zur ertragsteuerrechtlichen Behandlung bestimmter Kryptowerte (6 March 2025) (last checked October 2026)
- BMF: Same letter, official English courtesy translation (last checked October 2026)
- ELSTER: Hilfe zur Einkommensteuererklärung 2025 (Anlage SO) (last checked October 2026)
- BMF: Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Reform der Besteuerung bestimmter Kryptowerte im Privatvermögen (30 September 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- BMF: Bundesregierung bringt Einkommensteuerreform auf den Weg (2 September 2026) (last checked October 2026)
- Deutscher Bundestag: Drucksache 21/5752 (last checked October 2026)
- Deutscher Bundestag: Drucksache 21/6112 (Finance Committee recommendation) (last checked October 2026)
This page is general information, not tax advice. Rules and rates change, so check the official sources above before you act.