Crypto Tax in Germany 2025 – Complete English Guide

So you've been trading crypto in Germany and now you're wondering what to tell the tax office. Fair enough. The good news: Germany's rules are actually pretty reasonable once you understand them. Hold for a year, and you pay nothing. Here's everything you need to know.

Key Facts: Crypto Tax in Germany

• Tax-free after 1 year: Gains from crypto held longer than 12 months are completely tax-free
• €1,000 annual exemption: Gains under €1,000/year from short-term trades are tax-free (from 2024)
• FIFO method: First coins bought are considered first sold
• Tax rate: Your personal income tax rate (14–45 %)
• Legal basis: § § 23 EStG (Income Tax Act) – "other economic assets"

What Triggers a Tax Event?

This catches a lot of people off guard. It's not just selling for euros that counts:

• Selling crypto for fiat (EUR, USD etc.)
• Swapping one crypto for another – yes, BTC → ETH is a taxable sale. Annoying, but true.
• Paying for goods or services with crypto
• Receiving staking rewards, mining income, airdrops (taxed as income when you receive them)

Not a tax event: Buying crypto, transferring between your own wallets. That part at least is simple.

The 1-Year Holding Period Rule

Honestly, this is the best thing about German crypto tax law. Hold your Bitcoin, Ethereum, or any other coin for more than 365 days and the gain is completely tax-free. No cap. Doesn't matter if it's €500 or €500,000.

The catch: Germany uses FIFO, so the earliest-purchased coins are treated as sold first. Buy regularly and you need to track each "lot" separately. A good software tool does this automatically – doing it by hand across multiple exchanges is a nightmare.

€1,000 Annual Exemption (Freigrenze)

Short-term gains under €1,000 for the year? You pay nothing. Sounds great. But watch out – this is a threshold, not an allowance. Cross €1,001 and the whole amount becomes taxable, not just the bit above €1,000. So if you're sitting at €980 in gains, think carefully before that last trade.

Staking and Mining Income

Staking rewards and lending interest are taxed as "other income" (§ § 22 EStG) – at your normal income tax rate, based on the market price the moment you received them. There's a small €256/year exemption for "other income", which doesn't go very far.

When you later sell those staked tokens, any gain above the original receipt value is taxed again as a capital gain. So yes, staking can create a double layer of reporting. Not ideal, but those are the rules.

How to Report: Anlage SO

Short-term crypto gains go in Anlage SO (Supplementary Schedule S) of your German tax return. Three numbers matter:

• Total proceeds from crypto sales
• Total acquisition costs
• Net gain or loss

CoinTaxReporting generates a ready-to-use Anlage SO extract – you just copy the figures across.

Filing Deadlines

• Tax return due: July 31 of the following year (e.g., 2025 taxes due July 31, 2026)
• With a tax advisor (Steuerberater): extended to February 28 of the year after that

Hinweis: Dieser Artikel dient ausschließlich zur allgemeinen Information und stellt keine Steuerberatung dar. Für individuelle Steuerberatung wende dich an einen zugelassenen Steuerberater.