Crypto Tax in Germany: The One-Year Holding Period, Explained Carefully
2026-09-08
General information, not tax or legal advice. German treatment is fact-specific and the Finance Ministry circular is guidance, not the statute itself, so confirm your position with a German tax adviser.
The Key Distinction: Private Disposal or Commercial Activity
Private individuals generally account for coin sales as private disposal transactions under section 23 EStG, taxed at personal rates on the gain when the one-year period between acquisition and sale is not exceeded. Commercial trading, with scale, organization, or business-like infrastructure, is taxed as business income instead with different record and filing duties. The BMF circular of 6 March 2025 (English PDF) applies this split to currency tokens and expects matching documentation. This holding-period logic is not a blanket exemption for businesses; it applies to private disposals.
Sales, Swaps, and Spending
Selling for euro, swapping one coin for another, and paying with coins are each disposals, and the one-year clock runs per lot from acquisition under section 23 EStG. Gains within a year are taxable private-disposal income subject to the statutory de minimis threshold (1,000 euro total yearly profit), while gains after the year has fully run are tax-free in private assets. Where lots cannot be traced unit by unit, the BMF circular uses FIFO for the holding-period test and averaging for valuation, with FIFO valuation also permitted as a simplification. The method is applied consistently wallet by wallet. Confirm the threshold figure in the statute before relying on it.
Staking and Mining
Rewards from passive staking or lending are a separate taxable event from the later sale of the rewarded coins, generally other income under section 22 no 3 EStG, so do not assume a reward inherits the holding period of the staked coins. The BMF circular says the ten-year extension does not apply to currency or payment tokens. Mining ranges from private activity to a commercial operation depending on scale, equipment, and organization, with commercial miners facing business taxation and bookkeeping.
Losses
Eligible losses on private disposals have restricted use under section 23 EStG: they offset private-disposal gains, with statutory carryback and carryforward rules, rather than freely reducing salary. Losses outside the taxable holding-period window are not an automatic deduction.
Simple Hypothetical Example
Hypothetical: a private investor's seven-month sale falls within the disposal window, subject to the annual profit threshold. A thirteen-month sale of an ordinary payment token generally falls outside it. Neither example covers business assets.
Recordkeeping and Residency Cautions
Keep euro-denominated records of every acquisition, disposal, swap, reward, and fee with timestamps, wallet and exchange receipts, and a clean split between private and any business holdings; foreign-platform and DeFi trades draw extra scrutiny under the circular cooperation duties. German tax residents are generally taxed on worldwide disposals, and moving coins to a foreign exchange does not move your residence or shield the gain.
Sources and Scope
Sources checked: 8 September 2026. This article follows the BMF circular of 6 March 2025 (English PDF) with the statutory text of section 23 EStG and section 22 EStG. It covers German-resident individuals holding standard payment tokens; it excludes NFTs, liquidity mining, security-token specifics, and business-tax detail. For the wider picture see Crypto Tax by Country and Crypto Regulatory Landscape Evolving 2026.