- Spain taxes the gain when you sell crypto for euros or swap it for another crypto-asset. The gain goes into the savings tax base (base del ahorro), taxed at 19% to 30% in 2025 and 2026.
- Gains are calculated per coin type with the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method. Fees directly linked to a purchase or sale count.
- Staking rewards, DeFi yields and crypto lending are savings income at their euro value when you receive them. Airdrops go into the general tax base, taxed at the higher progressive rates.
- Crypto also counts for the wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio) at its value on 31 December, and for the solidarity tax on net wealth above €3,000,000.
- There is no exit tax on crypto when you leave Spain: the exit tax in Article 95 bis covers shares and fund units only.
This page covers income tax and wealth tax for private individuals who hold crypto in Spain. When and how to file, including the modelo 721 for crypto held abroad, is on filing and deadlines. Companies are on business tax. It is general information, not tax advice.
How crypto gains are taxed
The Agencia Tributaria (AEAT, the Spanish tax agency) treats crypto held by a private individual as a capital asset. When you sell it for euros or another official currency, the difference between the sale value and the purchase value is a capital gain or loss (ganancia o pérdida patrimonial). Its practical manual for the 2025 return sets out these rules:
- Each sale counts. The gain is calculated for each sale and each type of coin: the euros you receive (or the market value, if that is higher) minus what you paid in euros.
- FIFO. If you bought the same coin at different times and prices and sell part of it, the coins you bought first are treated as sold first (criterio FIFO).
- Fees. Costs and taxes directly related to the purchase or sale and paid by you count. The Dirección General de Tributos (DGT, the ministry’s tax rulings office) said in binding ruling V0648-24 (11 April 2024) that exchange trading fees and network (gas) fees linked to a trade count; a fee for moving coins between two of your own wallets does not.
- Swaps are taxable. Exchanging one crypto for a different one is a swap (permuta). The gain is the market value of what you give or receive, whichever is higher, minus the purchase value of what you give. The value used becomes the purchase value of the new coins.
- Timing. The gain belongs to the year in which you deliver the coins, whenever you are paid.
- Savings base. Gains and losses from selling or swapping crypto are savings income (renta del ahorro) and go into the savings tax base (Income Tax Act, Article 46(b)).
The savings tax base is taxed at these combined state and regional rates. They apply from 1 January 2025 and were unchanged for 2026 at the time of writing (October 2026):
| Savings tax base (2025 and 2026) | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €6,000 | 19% |
| €6,000 to €50,000 | 21% |
| €50,000 to €200,000 | 23% |
| €200,000 to €300,000 | 27% |
| Above €300,000 | 30% |
The Income Tax Act sets these rates in two halves, a state half (Article 66) and a regional half (Article 76), from 9.5% to 15% each. The regions cannot change the savings rates.
Losses
Capital losses from crypto are set off against capital gains of the same year in the savings base. A remaining loss can be set off against savings income such as interest or staking rewards, up to 25% of that income, and then carried forward for four years (Article 49). The AEAT adds that you must be able to prove a loss on a swap between two crypto-assets if it asks. If a platform does not return your crypto or goes bankrupt, that is not automatically a loss: the AEAT treats it as an unpaid claim, which you can only claim as a loss in the general base once, for example, the insolvency proceedings end or a court claim has gone unpaid for a year.
A worked example
Our own example, following the AEAT’s rules: in March 2024 you buy 1 bitcoin for €60,000 plus a €60 fee. In June 2026 you swap 0.5 bitcoin for ether when 0.5 bitcoin is worth €50,000. You have no other savings income and your personal allowance is used up by your salary.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase value of 0.5 BTC | (€60,000 + €60) × 0.5 | €30,030 |
| Transfer value (higher market value) | Market value of 0.5 BTC or of the ether received | €50,000 |
| Capital gain 2026 | €50,000 − €30,030 | €19,970 |
| Tax on the first €6,000 | €6,000 × 19% | €1,140 |
| Tax on the rest | €13,970 × 21% | €2,933.70 |
| Total tax | €1,140 + €2,933.70 | €4,073.70 |
| Purchase value of the ether for a later sale | Value used as transfer value | €50,000 |
You owe this tax although you never received any euros. This is an illustration, not a tax calculation for your situation: other gains, losses and your personal and family allowance change the result.
Wealth tax and solidarity tax
Spain also taxes wealth. Crypto counts like any other asset:
- Valuation. For the wealth tax you declare the euro balance of each coin you own on 31 December. The AEAT says to use the price at 23:59 on 31 December on the main trading platforms or price-tracking websites, or a reasonable estimate if there is none. Crypto in your own wallet counts too.
- Wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio). If your region has not set its own rules, the state rules apply: an exempt amount of €700,000 and rates from 0.2% to 3.5% (Act 19/1991, Articles 28 and 30). You must file if you owe tax or if your assets are worth more than €2,000,000, even if you owe nothing (Article 37).
- Regions. The regions (comunidades autónomas) set their own exempt amount, rates and reliefs, so the tax differs a lot between regions. Madrid and Andalusia, for example, have a 100% relief in their law; the AEAT notes that while the solidarity tax applies, they use a transitional relief instead.
- Solidarity tax (Impuesto Temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas). A state tax on net wealth above €3,000,000, after an exempt amount of €700,000, at 1.7%, 2.1% and 3.5% (Act 38/2022, Article 3). Wealth tax paid to the region is deducted. It was created for 2022 and 2023 and has been extended until the taxation of wealth is reviewed as part of the reform of regional financing.
Mining, trading and other situations
Buying and selling crypto for your own account gives capital gains, however often you trade. For the business activity tax (Impuesto sobre Actividades Económicas), the DGT said in ruling V2843-21 that buying and selling crypto for yourself is not an economic activity, while buying and selling or mining crypto as a service for others is. Income from a business activity goes into the general tax base. The DGT has said that bitcoin mining is not subject to VAT (V1274-20, see business tax), but in October 2026 we found no recent binding ruling on how mining rewards of a private individual are taxed for income tax; ask a tax adviser if you mine.
Under the Beckham regime for people who move to Spain (see moving), different rules apply. Spain’s inheritance and gift tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones) is largely set by the regions and is not covered on this page.
Staking, DeFi, airdrops and NFTs
Unlike many tax authorities, the DGT has published several binding rulings (consultas vinculantes) on these activities. A binding ruling binds the tax administration toward the person who asked (General Tax Act, Article 89), and it shows how the administration reads the law.
- Staking. Rewards from staking, whether through an exchange (centralized staking) or directly on the network with your own keys (native staking), are investment income (rendimientos del capital mobiliario from lending your capital to others, Article 25(2)), valued at their euro market value on the day you receive them, and go into the savings base (V1766-22 of 26 July 2022, V0648-24 and V0612-26 of 17 March 2026). Simply locking coins is not a business activity. With native staking, rewards are taxed when you can actually dispose of them, for example when you claim them from the smart contract (V0612-26).
- Liquid staking. Swapping ETH for a liquid staking token such as rETH, and back, is a swap between two different crypto-assets and can give a gain or loss in the savings base (V0612-26).
- DeFi and lending. Yields from liquidity pools, yield platforms and crypto lending are also capital income in the savings base (V0648-24). Fees you pay to borrow are not deductible from that income.
- Airdrops. Free tokens from an airdrop are a capital gain not derived from a sale, at their market value when received, and go into the general tax base with the progressive income tax rates (V0648-24).
- NFTs. An artist who sells NFTs as a business has business income in the general base, and the DGT treats the sale of digital art as an NFT on a platform as an electronically supplied service for VAT at 21% (V0138-25). We found no specific guidance for private collectors; selling an NFT you hold privately follows the general capital gains rules.
- Lost through a platform. See losses: a platform failure is an unpaid claim, not an immediate loss.
Which exchanges offer staking, and on what terms, is on exchanges.
Moving to or from Spain
- Tax residence. You are resident in Spain for a calendar year if you spend more than 183 days there (sporadic absences count unless you prove tax residence elsewhere), or if the main center of your business or economic interests is in Spain. If your spouse and minor children live in Spain, you are presumed resident (Income Tax Act, Article 9). Residence is tested per calendar year; we found no split-year rule in the Act, so check a tax treaty and ask an adviser in the year you move.
- Spanish nationals moving to a tax haven remain Spanish taxpayers in the year they move and the four following years (Article 8(2)).
- No exit tax on crypto. Spain’s exit tax (Article 95 bis) applies to unrealized gains on shares and units of funds, for people who were resident for at least 10 of the last 15 years and hold more than €4,000,000 (or more than 25% of a company worth more than €1,000,000). Crypto is not in it. Crypto held through your own company is different: the shares in that company can be.
- Beckham regime. People who move to Spain for a job, as a company director, for an entrepreneurial activity or as highly qualified professionals for start-ups, and who were not resident in the previous five years, can opt to be taxed under non-resident rules for the year of arrival and the five following years (Article 93). Employment income is taxed at 24% up to €600,000 and 47% above; savings income at 19% to 30%. Only Spanish-source income is taxed. In ruling V0376-24 (12 March 2024) the DGT said that crypto held with a custodian outside Spain is not located in Spain, so gains on it are not Spanish-source income under this regime. Beckham taxpayers pay wealth tax only on assets located in Spain.
- After you leave. A non-resident pays Spanish tax only on Spanish-source income. Following the same DGT reasoning, crypto counts as located in Spain when the custodian is resident or established in Spain.
The country you move to or from has its own rules. Tell your crypto providers when you change tax residence, because they report to the tax authority of your country of residence (see provider reporting).
Upcoming changes
A bill that transposes the EU directive DAC8 into Spanish law was sent to parliament on 3 June 2025 (bill 121/000060). It replaces the term “monedas virtuales” with “criptoactivos” and changes the reporting rules for providers. At the time of writing (October 2026) it was still at committee stage in the Congreso de los Diputados, so the current rules on this page still apply. The solidarity tax applies until the review of wealth taxation within the reform of regional financing; no end date has been published.
Sources
- Agencia Tributaria: Manual práctico de Renta 2025, Compra y venta de monedas virtuales: tributación en el IRPF del inversor (last checked October 2026)
- BOE: Ley 35/2006 del IRPF, articles 8, 9, 14, 25, 37, 46, 49, 66, 76, 93 and 95 bis (last checked October 2026)
- BOE: Ley 58/2003 General Tributaria, article 89 (binding rulings) (last checked October 2026)
- Dirección General de Tributos: database of binding rulings (consultas vinculantes V1766-22, V0648-24, V0612-26, V0376-24, V0138-25, V2843-21 and V1274-20) (last checked October 2026)
- Agencia Tributaria: Manual práctico de Patrimonio 2025, Monedas virtuales (last checked October 2026)
- Agencia Tributaria: Manual práctico de Patrimonio 2025, Bonificaciones autonómicas (last checked October 2026)
- BOE: Ley 19/1991 del Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio, articles 24, 28, 29, 30 and 37 (last checked October 2026)
- BOE: Ley 38/2022, article 3 (Impuesto Temporal de Solidaridad de las Grandes Fortunas), consolidated text (last checked October 2026)
- Congreso de los Diputados: Proyecto de Ley 121/000060 (DAC8 transposition), status page (last checked October 2026)
- Ministerio de Hacienda: El Gobierno remite a las Cortes la transposición de la directiva europea DAC8 (3 June 2025) (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.