Germany crypto tax rules reward holding. A private individual who sells bitcoin, ether or another coin more than one year after buying it pays no income tax on the gain, under §23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG). Sell sooner and the profit is added to your income and taxed at your personal rate, up to 45% plus solidarity surcharge and any church tax. The exception is when your total short-term private-sale gains for the year stay under the €1,000 Freigrenze. Staking rewards have a separate €256 limit, and since 2026 exchanges report to the tax office.
Key takeaways
- Coins held privately for more than 12 months can be sold tax-free. Coins sold within 12 months are taxed as a “private sale transaction” (privates Veräußerungsgeschäft).
- The €1,000 limit is a Freigrenze (exemption threshold), not a Freibetrag (allowance). Reach €1,000 of net gains and the whole amount is taxable, not just the part above €1,000.
- Staking and lending rewards count as “other income” under §22 No. 3 EStG and are tax-free only if that income totals less than €256 in the year. Staking does not extend the holding period to ten years.
- The finance ministry’s (BMF) March 2025 guidance requires lots to be tracked wallet by wallet, usually using FIFO, and it tightened record-keeping duties.
- Under the EU’s DAC8 directive, crypto service providers have collected customer data since 1 January 2026, with first reports to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) due in 2027.
Germany crypto tax at a glance: what is and isn’t taxed
Germany is one of the few large economies where a long-term private investor can owe nothing on crypto gains. It sits alongside the jurisdictions in our overview of crypto regulation by country, but the details decide whether you qualify.
Rules differ widely between countries; for comparison, see our explainer on Canada crypto tax and how the CRA treats gains.
Germany’s holding-period exemption puts it alongside Portugal in our roundup of countries where crypto gains can be tax-free, which also covers zero-tax places such as the UAE.
| What you do | Held 12 months or less | Held more than 12 months | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell crypto for euros | Taxable at personal rate (unless total private-sale gains < €1,000) | Tax-free | §23 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 EStG |
| Swap one coin for another | Taxable disposal of the coin you give up | Tax-free for the coin you give up. The new coin starts a fresh 12-month clock | §23 EStG, BMF letter |
| Pay for goods with crypto | Taxable disposal | Tax-free | §23 EStG |
| Receive staking or lending rewards | Income at euro market value when received. Tax-free only if all §22 No. 3 income is under €256 a year | §22 Nr. 3 EStG | |
| Sell staking rewards later | Taxable private sale, measured from when you received them | Tax-free | §23 EStG |
| Buy and hold, or move coins between your own wallets | Not taxable | No disposal | |
| Mining as a business | Usually commercial (trade) income, with different rules | §15 EStG | |
The one-year rule (Haltefrist) under §23 EStG
§23 EStG taxes “private sale transactions”: selling certain assets that you held privately within a set period after buying them. For most assets other than property, including crypto under the BMF’s interpretation, that period is one year. The clock starts the day after you acquire a coin. Once more than 12 months have passed, the gain is outside §23 and is not taxed.
Three details matter in practice:
- Every lot has its own clock. Coins bought in January and coins bought in October are separate lots with separate dates.
- Swaps reset the clock. Trading BTC for SOL is a sale of the BTC. The SOL you receive is a new acquisition, so its 12 months start again.
- Staking does not extend it to ten years. An older reading of the law suggested that using coins to earn income might stretch the holding period to ten years. The BMF rejected this in its 2022 letter and kept that position in the revised letter of 6 March 2025.
The €1,000 Freigrenze: an exemption threshold, not an allowance
Since the 2024 tax year, gains from private sale transactions are tax-free if your total net gain from all such transactions in the calendar year is less than €1,000 (previously €600). Two consequences surprise people:
- It is a cliff. A net gain of €999 is tax-free. A net gain of €1,000 is taxable in full, so the entire €1,000 is taxed, not €0.
- It covers more than crypto. Short-term gains on gold, collectibles or other private assets count toward the same threshold. Married couples filing jointly each have their own €1,000.
Short-term crypto losses reduce the net figure, so the threshold works on gains minus losses for the year.
Staking, lending and the €256 limit
Rewards from staking and lending are taxed as “other income” (sonstige Einkünfte) under §22 No. 3 EStG. Each reward is valued in euros at its market price when you receive it. Income under this heading is tax-free only if the total for the year is less than €256. Like the €1,000 threshold, it is a cliff: €260 of rewards means €260 is taxable.
The value at receipt becomes the reward’s acquisition cost. If you sell the reward coins within 12 months and the price has risen, that rise is a separate §23 gain. After 12 months, any further rise is tax-free. The 2025 BMF letter added detail on how staking income should be calculated and valued. If you use an exchange’s staking product, check that its tax report records each reward with a timestamp.
FIFO, wallets and the records the Finanzamt expects
The BMF letter of 6 March 2025 replaced the 2022 version. It renamed the subject “crypto assets” (Kryptowerte) and expanded the sections on taxpayers’ duties to cooperate and keep records. Its core points are:
If you buy through a European broker, our review of Bitpanda’s fees and product range covers its published cost tiers and the MiCA licences it has announced, including from BaFin.
- Look at each wallet separately. Lots are matched within each wallet or exchange account, not pooled across everything you own.
- Identify units individually where you can, otherwise use FIFO. If you can’t trace specific units, first-in-first-out decides which coins you sold and therefore whether the 12 months have passed. Commentators note that a 2025 Nuremberg fiscal court ruling also accepted LIFO, but the BMF’s own guidance points to FIFO.
- Keep evidence. Export transaction histories from every exchange, record your wallet addresses, and keep price sources. Where records are missing, the tax office can estimate, and gaps usually count against you.
Most German investors use crypto tax software that produces an Anlage SO report. Whatever you use, check that the method it applies is set to per-wallet FIFO.
Worked examples
These examples assume a private investor with no other private-sale gains, and a 35% personal marginal rate where tax applies. Solidarity surcharge and church tax are left out for simplicity.
Example 1: sold after 13 months
Lena bought 0.5 BTC in March 2025 for €30,000 and sold it in April 2026 for €45,000. The €15,000 gain is outside the one-year period, so it is tax-free. She keeps the exchange records showing both dates in case the tax office asks.
Example 2: just under and just over €1,000
Jonas made a €950 net gain trading ETH within six months. It is below the threshold, so no tax is due. If his net gain had been €1,050, the full €1,050 would be taxable. At 35% that is about €368, which is more than the extra €100 of profit.
Example 3: staking rewards
Aylin received staking rewards worth €300 at the time of receipt during 2026. That is above €256, so all €300 is taxable other income, about €105 at 35%. She sells the rewards 18 months later at a higher price. The extra gain is tax-free, because each reward was held for more than a year.
Losses, filing and DAC8 reporting
Losses. Losses on coins sold within 12 months can only be set against gains from private sale transactions. They can be carried back one year or forward indefinitely, but they cannot reduce your salary income. Losses on coins held for more than a year don’t count, because those sales are outside §23 altogether.
Filing. Taxable crypto gains and staking income go on Anlage SO with your annual return. Taxpayers who file their own return without an adviser normally have until 31 July of the following year.
DAC8. Germany implemented the EU’s DAC8 directive through the Crypto Asset Tax Transparency Act (KStTG), which took effect on 1 January 2026. Crypto service providers serving EU customers now collect tax identification details and transaction data for 2026, with the first reports to the BZSt due in 2027. Existing customers are expected to provide their self-certification details by 1 January 2027. This is separate from the MiCA licensing rules explained in our EU crypto regulation guide. In practice, the tax office will increasingly be able to compare your Anlage SO with exchange data.
Tax law and administrative guidance change, and German politicians periodically debate the one-year exemption. This page reflects the law and BMF guidance as of October 2026. For non-German rules, see our general crypto tax guide and our wider bitcoin guides. If your situation involves large amounts, mining or business activity, a German Steuerberater is worth the fee.
FAQ
Is crypto tax-free in Germany after one year?
Yes, for private individuals. Gains on coins sold more than 12 months after purchase fall outside §23 EStG and are not subject to income tax. This applies per lot and per wallet, and a swap starts a new 12-month period for the coin you receive. The exemption does not cover staking or lending rewards when you receive them, and it does not cover crypto held as business assets.
What is the crypto Freigrenze in Germany?
For private sale transactions it is €1,000 per person per year (since 2024). Total net gains below €1,000 are tax-free. At €1,000 or more, the entire amount is taxed. It is shared with other private-sale gains such as short-term gold trades. Staking and lending income has its own, separate €256 limit under §22 No. 3 EStG.
Does staking extend the holding period to ten years in Germany?
No. The Federal Ministry of Finance’s guidance, first in 2022 and again in its March 2025 letter, says using coins for staking or lending does not extend the holding period to ten years. Staked coins keep their normal one-year period. Each reward you receive starts its own one-year clock from the day it arrives.
Do German exchanges report crypto to the tax office?
From 2026, yes. Under DAC8 and Germany’s KStTG, crypto service providers collect customer tax IDs and transaction data for each calendar year starting with 2026, and report it to the Federal Central Tax Office. The first reports are due in 2027. Providers outside the EU that serve EU customers are also covered, and non-EU countries increasingly share similar data under the OECD’s CARF.
Crypto is volatile and risky; this is education, not financial advice. Do your own research.
