Anlage SO explained
Crypto does not have its own German tax form. It is spread across several, and putting an entry in the wrong one changes the tax rate, the exemption limit and whether a loss can ever be used. This is the map.
- Disposals of privately held crypto: Anlage SO, private disposal transactions, section 23 EStG.
- Staking, lending and airdrops with a service element: Anlage SO, services, section 22 no 3.
- The two sections have different exemption limits — €1,000 and €256 — and they do not combine.
- The form takes totals; the itemised schedule is attached.
- Note: declare losses even when no tax is due, or you cannot use them later.
What must be settled before the form
The form is the last step, not the first. Four things have to be fixed before a single figure is entered.
Complete list of sources
Every exchange, wallet and address you have ever used, including dormant ones. A missing wallet does not merely omit its own transactions — it corrupts the acquisition data of everything that ever moved out of it.
Own transfers identified
Movements between your own addresses are neither disposals nor acquisitions. If the software does not know an address is yours, it books the transfer as a sale — creating gains that do not exist and destroying the holding periods of what remains.
Disposal sequence chosen and recorded
Which units count as sold on a partial disposal decides both the gain and the holding period. The method must be recorded and applied consistently. The tax authorities expect the calculation per wallet; whether that is compulsory is the subject of proceedings we are running.
Prices resolved for every inflow
Each acquisition and each reward needs a price at the moment of receipt. Choose one price source and keep to it — using an expensive source for acquisitions and a cheap one for disposals is expressly not accepted.
Filling in the form takes minutes. Getting to the point where the figures are defensible takes most of the engagement. That is also why the fee for a crypto return sits well above a conventional one. What it costs
Which form takes which transaction
Put an entry in the wrong section and the rate, the exemption limit and the loss treatment all change.
| Transaction | Form and section | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Sale or swap of privately held crypto | Anlage SO, private disposal transactions | Sec. 23 EStG |
| Staking and lending rewards | Anlage SO, income from services | Sec. 22 no 3 EStG |
| Airdrop with a service element | Anlage SO, income from services | Sec. 22 no 3 EStG |
| Mining as a commercial activity | Anlage G with the profit statement | Sec. 15 EStG |
| Security tokens with a claim to payment | Anlage KAP | Sec. 20 EStG |
| Crypto held as business assets | Business profit forms, on balance sheet or cash basis | Sec. 4, 5 EStG |
Section 22 no 3 and section 20 differ in more than a form number. Under section 22 no 3 related expenses are deductible in full; under section 20 they are barred by the flat-rate regime. The same invoice can be fully deductible in one and entirely lost in the other.
The disposals section
Since the 2023 tax year Anlage SO asks about crypto assets in their own right.
Totals, not individual trades: total proceeds, total acquisition cost, total income-related expenses, and the resulting gain or loss. The description field identifies what the figures relate to — with a high trade count it is customary to reference the attached tax report there.
Only transactions inside the twelve-month period belong in the taxable figures. Disposals outside it are not taxable, but the underlying facts should still be documented, because it is you who must show the period was met.
The itemised schedule must let each disposal be followed on its own: the coin, the quantity, acquisition date and cost, disposal date and proceeds, and the holding period. That is what the tax office needs in order to verify the totals — and it is what a tax report has to deliver if it is to be accepted.
- Exemption limit€1,000 per calendar year
- Typelimit, not allowance — reach it and all is taxable
- Rateyour personal income tax rate
- Periodtwelve months from acquisition
- Form entrytotals; schedule attached
- Sincetax year 2023: crypto asked separately
That the form only began asking separately in 2023 is itself an argument in older years — someone who entered nothing before that completed the form as it was put. We run a case on exactly this point.
The services section
A different part of the same form, with its own rules.
Rewards from staking and lending, and airdrops where a service was rendered, are income from services under section 22 no 3 of the Income Tax Act. They are valued at the market price at the time of receipt and entered in the services section — not among the disposals.
The exemption limit is €256, not €1,000, and it covers all income from services in the year taken together — staking, lending, airdrops and anything else. It is again a limit, not an allowance.
Rewards are also an acquisition. The value taxed on receipt becomes the acquisition cost for a later sale, and a fresh twelve-month period starts. Recording that value is what makes the later disposal calculable.
Expenses belong in the same section. Costs connected with generating the rewards are deducted here, in full — which is one reason the allocation between section 22 no 3 and section 20 matters so much.
Whether a particular airdrop involves a service at all is a live question. Our article on the three tiers of airdrop taxation (in German)
Losses: declare them anyway
The most common and most expensive omission in crypto returns.
Losses from private disposal transactions form a closed circle: they offset only gains of the same kind, not salary, not rental income, not investment income. Within that circle they are valuable — they offset gains in the same year, can be carried back one year and carried forward without limit.
A loss that is not declared is not formally determined, and a loss that is not determined cannot be used later. In a year where no tax is due anyway, people routinely leave the section blank — and lose the offset against gains in every future year.
This is the one entry that costs nothing to make and can be worth a great deal a few years later.
Loss offsetting in detail, including hacks, scams and worthless tokens (in German)
Filing and deadlines
Practical points that differ from what you may be used to elsewhere.
Filed in German
The return and the correspondence are in German. Attachments in English are usually accepted in practice, but the return itself is not filed in English. We handle both and explain them to you in English.
Longer deadline through an adviser
Returns prepared by a German tax adviser benefit from an extended filing deadline. If you are already late, that difference is often the first thing worth using.
Electronic filing
Returns are transmitted electronically. Commercial crypto tax software can export figures for import, but capital income under section 20 is generally not covered and has to be carried over manually.
Keep the version you filed
Archive the tax report exactly as submitted, not merely your access to the software. Reports regenerate with different figures as data or settings change — and then you cannot reproduce what you declared.
Questions and answers
What is Anlage SO?
Do I list every single trade in the form?
Where do staking and lending rewards go?
Do I have to declare losses even if no tax is due?
Which form takes crypto held as business assets?
Do I file in German?
What if I only used foreign exchanges?
Legal position: 25 August 2026. Sources: sections 22 no 3, 23, 20, 15 EStG; sections 90, 162 of the Fiscal Code; Federal Ministry of Finance circular of 6 March 2025, in particular paragraphs 53, 61 f., 91 and 102 f.
This article is not advice on an individual case. Where this English text and the German version differ, the German version governs.