German crypto tax 2027: no cabinet decision yet

Germany's finance ministry wants to tax privately held crypto differently from 1 January 2027: gains on bitcoin and ether would always be taxable, even after more than a year of ownership. The cabinet had the draft on its agenda on 14 October 2026 but took no decision on it, and no new date has been given. Until a law is passed, the existing rule in Germany applies: gains are tax-free if you have held the coins for longer than a year.

German crypto tax in short

• What changes in the draft? Gains on ‘Tauschkryptowerte’ such as bitcoin and ether would no longer fall under the private sales rules of § 23 EStG but under the investment income rules of § 20 EStG. The one-year holding period disappears.
• What rate? The Abgeltungsteuer of 25 per cent, plus the solidarity surcharge and, where relevant, church tax. With the surcharge alone, that comes to 26.375 per cent.
• Which coins? Only crypto bought or received after 31 December 2026. Older coins stay under the old rules.
• When will platforms withhold tax? The draft gives 1 January 2028 for withholding by providers in Germany, just as for shares.
• What is not yet decided? The cabinet has not adopted the draft, the Bundestag and Bundesrat still have to take part, and the CDU/CSU parliamentary group was against it earlier.
• What should you watch? The law does not exist yet. Under the draft, the purchase date determines which rule applies to your coins.

What the draft says

The draft is a Referentenentwurf from the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF): a working draft that the ministry discusses with other ministries and interest groups before it goes to the cabinet. According to BTC-Echo, which saw the 16-page document and wrote about it on 30 September 2026, it is a change for crypto held as private assets. Grant Thornton Germany calls it the ‘Gesetz zur Reform der Besteuerung bestimmter Kryptowerte im Privatvermögen’.

The core, according to BTC-Echo and Grant Thornton:

The draft targets crypto that serves as a medium of exchange and is not issued or guaranteed by a central bank or government; the explanatory note names bitcoin and ether as examples. According to Grant Thornton, security tokens, NFTs, tokens linked to real-world assets and certain e-money tokens are not covered.

Interest-like income is also addressed. According to Grant Thornton, income from lending, passive staking, processing transactions and comparable DeFi uses would count as investment income and fall under the Abgeltungsteuer.

Platforms face a withholding obligation, as with shares. It applies to German crypto service providers, trading platforms, custodians and German branches of foreign providers. If a provider cannot establish the original purchase price, it may, under certain conditions, use the taxpayer's own statement. If no reliable data are available, Grant Thornton says a flat-rate withholding on 50 per cent of the sale proceeds follows.

Why the cabinet did not decide

The schedule was tight. Interest groups could respond until 6 October and the cabinet was due to decide on 14 October 2026 (BTC-Echo). Cryptoticker reported on 15 October, updated on 25 October, that the subject does not appear in the outcomes of the 62nd cabinet meeting. According to that report, the ministry has not named a new date and said that deliberations within the government are still ongoing.

On 12 October 2026 there was also a hearing in the Bundestag's petitions committee on a petition to keep the one-year period. According to Blocktrainer, 44,439 people signed; the 30,000 needed for a hearing were reached within two days. A BMF official pointed to Austria, where the holding period has been abolished. According to that account, the ministry would be open to extending the rule to gold or to abolishing the period for all assets, and expects 160 million euros in extra revenue in the first year and 350 million up to 2035. It had not yet calculated the implementation costs.

Lawyers point to another issue. According to bitcoin-kurier (3 July 2026), the rule is open to challenge on the principle of equality, because gold would continue to fall under § 23 EStG. Whether a court would see it that way is still open.

A worked example

This is a worked example, not a forecast. Suppose you buy 10,000 euros of bitcoin in March 2027 and sell it for 15,000 euros in May 2029. The gain is 5,000 euros.

Church tax and any allowances or loss offsetting are not included. Cryptoticker writes that the Sparer-Pauschbetrag would apply instead of the one-year period, but does not give the amount. The current exemption limit of 1,000 euros under § 23 EStG belongs to the existing rule.

What does this mean for you as a European investor?

Germany. If you live in Germany, the law has not changed at the time of writing. The draft does say that the purchase date counts: what you buy after 31 December 2026 would fall under the new rules, what you bought earlier under the old ones. For what buying through a German bank costs, read buy bitcoin at Sparkasse: 0.99 euros plus a markup.

The Netherlands. This draft is a German rule. In the Netherlands, crypto falls under box 3; for how that works, read crypto and taxes in the Netherlands: a practical guide for 2026.

France. France is also discussing a tax change for crypto, but around stablecoins: see France stablecoin tax: MPs vote to tax swaps at 31.4%.

Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Poland. The German draft changes nothing here. To compare what applies in your country, see crypto tax in Europe.

What is not certain yet

• Whether the cabinet adopts the draft, and when. According to Cryptoticker, the ministry named no new date.
• Whether the law will be ready before 1 January 2027. The Bundestag and Bundesrat still have to agree. A Blocktrainer report of 6 July 2026 says the CDU/CSU parliamentary group earlier saw no reason for change.
• The exact form. The sources give no complete picture of exemptions and loss offsetting; the official BMF draft could not be opened at the time of writing (the website returned an error), so we rely on BTC-Echo, Grant Thornton Germany, Cryptoticker and Blocktrainer.
• What happens with gold. According to the report of the hearing, the BMF would be open to equal treatment.

This article is not investment or tax advice. Crypto can fall sharply in value and you could lose your entire investment.

Frequently asked questions

Is bitcoin still tax-free in Germany after a year?

Yes, under the rule that applies now (§ 23 EStG): if you hold coins for longer than a year, you pay no income tax on the gain. The draft wants to abolish that for coins bought after 31 December 2026.

Does the new rule apply to my old bitcoin?

Not under the draft. For crypto you bought before 1 January 2027, the existing rules continue to apply.

How much tax would it be?

The draft names the Abgeltungsteuer of 25 per cent, 26.375 per cent with the solidarity surcharge, and possibly church tax on top.

Is it law yet?

No. It is a ministry draft. The cabinet took no decision on it on 14 October 2026, and the Bundestag and Bundesrat have not dealt with it.

What does this mean for people in the Netherlands?

Nothing, unless you are liable to tax in Germany. In the Netherlands, box 3 applies; see crypto and taxes in the Netherlands: a practical guide for 2026.

Sources

Read on 29 October 2026.

• BTC-Echo: Krypto-Steuer, diese Regeln plant das Finanzministerium (30 September 2026)
• Grant Thornton Deutschland: BMF plant Reform der Krypto-Besteuerung (date not stated)
• Cryptoticker: Krypto-Haltefrist, Kabinettstermin verstrichen (15 October 2026, updated 25 October)
• Blocktrainer: Anhörung im Petitionsausschuss zur Krypto-Haltefrist (12 October 2026)
• Blocktrainer: Bundeskabinett beschließt Haushaltsentwurf mit Änderung der Krypto-Steuer (6 July 2026)
• Bitcoin-Kurier: Kabinettsentwurf kippt Haltefrist für Bitcoin (3 July 2026)