- A German finance ministry draft would tax crypto gains at the standard 25% withholding rate, ending the exemption that currently frees gains on coins held longer than a year.
- The rules would apply to assets bought from January 1, 2027, with banks and platforms withholding the tax automatically from 2028; the draft is in early coordination and could still change.
- Crypto bought before 2027 would be grandfathered, keeping the 12-month rule that makes long-held gains tax-free.
Germany’s finance ministry has drafted a bill that would end the country’s tax-free treatment of long-held cryptocurrency, taxing gains on coins bought from 2027 at the standard 25% rate that applies to shares.
The draft, dated mid-August and first reported by Die Welt and read by Handelsblatt, sets the rate at Germany’s flat 25% withholding tax, about 26.4% once the solidarity surcharge is added, with a €1,000 (AU$1,612) allowance and losses deductible against profits.
That levy, the Abgeltungsteuer, is already deducted at source on dividends, interest and share sales in Germany. Under today’s rules, gains on crypto sold within a year of purchase are taxed at the holder’s personal income rate.
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When It Would Apply
The law would take effect on January 1, 2027 and cover only crypto acquired from that date. Banks and trading platforms would begin withholding the tax automatically in 2028, a year later, to give them time to build the systems that collect it.
Coins bought on or before December 31, 2026 would be grandfathered, keeping today’s rules. Anyone already holding Bitcoin or Ether would retain the exemption that wipes out tax on gains once the coins have been held for 12 months.
Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Lars Klingbeil first flagged the overhaul on April 29, saying crypto should “in future be taxed differently”, though he set out no timeline then. The draft argues that crypto””increasingly represents a form of private capital investment”, and that it is “unjust” that earned income and capital gains are taxed while “profits from speculation in crypto assets remain largely tax-free”.
The ministry projects the change would raise about €160 million (AU$258 million) in 2028, rising toward €350 million (AU$564 million) a year by 2030.
The proposal is a ministry draft in early coordination between departments and could still change. To become law, it would still need cabinet approval and passage through the Bundestag.
Crypto was left out of the separate income tax reform the cabinet adopted on September 2, so the one-year exemption stands for now. Australia is weighing an overhaul that could raise tax on long-term crypto holdings and a shake-up of its capital gains discount, and the Netherlands has approved a 36% tax on crypto and investment gains.
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