Federal and regional chambers of tax advisers
Lecturer on crypto and tax, working for the tax adviser associations throughout Germany.
As at 08/2026
For clients, fellow advisers and the press
We do not only apply German crypto tax law — we help shape it
Matthias Steger was called as an expert witness before the Finance Committee of the German Bundestag, runs five proceedings on the open core questions, trains German tax advisers and writes for the professional press. This page collects what can be evidenced.
01
Legislation
Parliamentary hearing, position papers and association work on the holding period and reporting duties.
05
Proceedings
Five own actions and suspension proceedings before tax courts and the Federal Fiscal Court.
5000+
Teaching
German tax advisers trained on crypto taxation since 2018, at chambers, associations and our own academy.
Legislation
Expert witness before the Finance Committee of the German Bundestag
- BodyFinance Committee of the German Bundestag
- Date13 October 2025, 4pm to 5.30pm
- SubjectImplementation of Directive (EU) 2023/2226, printed paper 21/1937
- Called forInstitute for Digitalisation in Tax Law, on the proposal of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group
The core of the written statement
The draft imposes identical reporting duties on major banks and start-ups alike, without regard to resources or risk profile. Exemptions, de minimis thresholds and regulatory sandboxes are absent — which hits small businesses particularly hard.
Why this matters for international clients
Directive (EU) 2023/2226 — known as DAC 8 — obliges crypto asset service providers across the European Union to report their users to the tax authorities, which then exchange that data automatically. If you hold crypto on an exchange inside the EU and are resident in Germany, your German tax office will receive the data.
The practical consequence is the same wherever you live: once the data has arrived, a voluntary disclosure is no longer possible. The window closes on receipt at your local tax office, not on the day the reporting obligation begins.
Association work on the holding period and withholding tax
Whether the one-year holding period survives, and whether crypto assets will fall under German flat-rate withholding tax, matters more to private investors than any structuring question. Matthias Steger has followed both debates for years — as an association representative, in expert bodies and in print.
Bitcoin Bundesverband
Finance Director
Contributor to the petition to preserve the one-year holding period and to the holding period task force preparing the technical arguments for the legislative process.
Profile and contributions (in German)
Blockchain Bundesverband
Co-head of the tax working group
Co-author of the position paper on the taxation of crypto assets, which opposes bringing them within flat-rate withholding tax and calls for „evidence before reform“.
To the position paper (in German)
Professional press
Contributor at BTC-ECHO
Assessing the current debate from the figures rather than the headlines — most recently on whether the arguments for abolishing the holding period hold up.
All articles (in German)Three arguments against withholding tax on crypto assets
The core of the position paper co-authored by the tax working group of the Blockchain Bundesverband.
System
Crypto assets are not shares
A share embodies rights against a company — a dividend, a stake, dependence on business performance. Crypto assets, by contrast, count as other assets and sit closer to commodities or foreign currency. Treating them like shares would have no systematic foundation.
Sections 39 f. AO
Treat economic equals equally
Whether someone swaps a position for a dollar balance or for a stablecoin makes no economic difference. Under the economic approach of the German Fiscal Code, the technical wrapper of an identical set of facts must not lead to different taxation.
Evidence
Measure first, then reform
Reliable figures on current tax revenue from crypto assets do not exist; several parliamentary questions went unanswered in substance. Data collected separately since 2023 is not systematically evaluated. Anyone changing a working rule should know what it does.
Five proceedings we run ourselves
On the core questions of crypto taxation there is barely any decision from the highest court. We are not waiting for one.
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BFH VIII R 22/25 appeal pending
Crypto lending: investment income or other income?
The core question is the concept of money in section 20(1) no 7 of the Income Tax Act. The Federal Fiscal Court is also examining whether crypto currencies are comparable to foreign currency. Lower court: FG Köln, 3 K 194/23.
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FG Berlin-Brandenburg 4 V 4039/26 suspension granted
Disposal sequence: LIFO against FIFO
Order of 12 June 2026: suspension of enforcement granted, because the tax office applied FIFO where the taxpayer had calculated on a LIFO basis.
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FG Niedersachsen 10 K 165/23 action pending
Wallet-by-wallet or across all wallets?
Is the calculation per wallet required by the Federal Ministry of Finance circular, or does a calculation across all wallets remain permissible? The answer shifts acquisition dates and with them the holding period.
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FG Baden-Württemberg 4 K 2402/25 action pending
Airdrops with rules set after the fact
Does the ENS airdrop involve a taxable service where the allocation rules were only fixed after the snapshot and attached to conduct towards a different counterparty?
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FG Baden-Württemberg 2 K 306/26 action pending
No reckless tax evasion
For 2017 it is disputed whether the assessment period has expired. The Anlage SO form has only asked about crypto gains separately since 2023 — anyone who entered nothing before that completed the form exactly as it was put.
Teaching
Since 2018 more than 5,000 German tax advisers have attended training on the taxation of crypto assets — at chambers, with associations and at our own academy.
Krypto-Steuerakademie
Our own training platform with over 1,000 participants and monthly live calls on new judgments and administrative guidance.
Expert committees
Chair of the tax law committee of the Berlin-Brandenburg tax advisers association, member of the blockchain committee at the Institute for Digitalisation in Tax Law, advisory board of the Potsdam Tax Forum.
Publications
Handbook on the taxation of crypto assets
Published by Erich Schmidt Verlag. A standard reference for German advisory practice.
All publications →Guidance notes on crypto and tax
Practice materials for firms that need to handle the subject in client work.
Articles at BTC-ECHO
Regular assessment of tax policy developments for a professional readership.
To the author page (in German) →Offices and memberships
- Steuerberaterverband BBVice-President and chair of the tax law committee
- Bitcoin BundesverbandFinance Director
- Blockchain BundesverbandCo-head of the tax working group
- IdStMember of the blockchain committee at the Institute for Digitalisation in Tax Law
- Potsdam Tax ForumAdvisory board
- Frankfurt (Oder) Regional CourtCourt-appointed expert, also for the local courts
- AwardNamed among the „Best Tax Advisers 2024“
For the press and fellow advisers
Enquiries about interviews, background briefings, expert reports or specialist talks are answered promptly. On pending proceedings the rule is: we discuss the legal questions, not the clients.
As at: 25 August 2026. All statements are evidenced through the primary sources linked above.
Proceedings: BFH VIII R 22/25 (lower court FG Köln, 3 K 194/23), FG Berlin-Brandenburg 4 V 4039/26, FG Niedersachsen 10 K 165/23, FG Baden-Württemberg 4 K 2402/25 and 2 K 306/26.
This English page mirrors the German expertise page.
Proceedings: BFH VIII R 22/25 (lower court FG Köln, 3 K 194/23), FG Berlin-Brandenburg 4 V 4039/26, FG Niedersachsen 10 K 165/23, FG Baden-Württemberg 4 K 2402/25 and 2 K 306/26.
This English page mirrors the German expertise page.