There is no certification. What matters is whether you can show a traceable chain from the raw data to your tax return. The standard depends on whether the crypto is private or business property.
Software vendors and tax offices use these words.
| German | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Betriebsprüfung / Außenprüfung | Tax audit at a business |
| GoBD | The tax administration's rules for proper digital bookkeeping and records |
| Verfahrensdokumentation | Process documentation: a written description of how your records are made |
| Privatvermögen / Betriebsvermögen | Private assets / business assets |
| Aufbewahrung | Retention of records |
The question about "safe" software has two answers.
The circular does not impose GoBD bookkeeping merely because you trade crypto. A report is evidence and a plausibility check. It suffices if it is coherent and has no visible gaps. The tax authority can ask for the underlying transaction histories and CSV files (circular of 6 March 2025, paragraphs 90 and 100 to 104).
For bookkeeping and record-keeping duties, the rules of the Fiscal Code and the GoBD apply in full. For crypto software the circular names completeness, immutability and process documentation. The software is subject to data access to the extent that it keeps mandatory records (paragraphs 93 to 99).
The person who owes the duty is you, not the software. There is no statutory certification of crypto tax software in Germany.
With sources. This is our practical implementation of the statutory principles, not a closing statutory list of fields.
The report is not just an annual total. All exchanges, wallets and transactions are covered, and double entries and omissions are avoided. The GoBD expect technical and organisational controls such as completeness, plausibility and gap checks (GoBD paragraphs 36 to 43).
A knowledgeable third party must be able to follow each transaction from the source document through the basic record and processing to the tax return, and from the declared amount back to the document (GoBD paragraphs 30 to 35 and 145 to 148; section 145 AO). In practice: unchanged raw exports and, per transaction, platform or wallet, date, transaction ID, asset, amount, type, fees, euro value with the rate source, and the link between purchase and sale (circular, paragraphs 101 to 103).
Wallets and exchange accounts are identified separately. Transfers between your own wallets must be documented as internal transfers, otherwise they wrongly look like sales. The sequence chosen is documented per wallet (circular, paragraphs 103 and 104). See also our article on wallet-by-wallet computation.
A record may not be changed so that the original content can no longer be established or it stays unclear when it was changed (section 146(4) AO). Changes and deletions are logged, including configuration, valuation and allocation parameters. An ordinary file system usually does not suffice (GoBD paragraphs 58 to 60 and 107 to 112).
Data input, import, allocation, valuation, processing, storage, backup and reproduction are described. Documented program versions must match the system actually in use (GoBD paragraphs 34 and 149 to 155). If it is missing, the records are not automatically rejected (paragraph 155).
Rates, the disposal-sequence method and tax assessments must be traceable. Manual corrections are marked and reasoned (circular, paragraph 90).
What must still be readable after the audit.
You must keep books, records, organisational documents, vouchers and other documents that matter for tax. They must be readable, available and machine-analysable (section 147(1), (2) AO). As a rule the periods are ten years for books, records and organisational documents, eight years for vouchers and six years for other documents. The period does not end while an assessment period is still open (section 147(3), (4) AO).
In a tax audit the authority can ask for access to the data, a machine analysis under its instructions or the transfer of the data in analysable form (section 147(6) AO). The GoBD also expect the system descriptions needed to understand the data (paragraphs 159 to 170). When the tax office may demand access to exchanges and wallets is covered in our article on the exchange API question.
For private investors with positive investment and other income above EUR 500,000 in a calendar year, the circular names section 147a AO in addition: records of income and income-related expenses must be kept for six years. According to the circular, the threshold rises to EUR 750,000 from 1 January 2027 (paragraph 105).
Defects do not automatically lead to an estimate.
Proper books and records must be used as the basis for assessment. That does not apply where their factual accuracy is open to challenge (section 158 AO). Under section 162(1) AO the office must estimate to the extent that the tax base cannot be determined or calculated. Section 162(2) AO names as grounds, for example, insufficient clarification, a breach of the duty to cooperate in matters abroad (section 90(2) AO), missing mandatory records or indications of incomplete returns. How high the estimate is depends on the actual gap.
The circular also stresses that a plausible report can be used as the basis for the assessment without ruling out a later audit (paragraph 90).
The catalogue can be tested before the tax office does it.
We review crypto tax software against defined test cases for computation logic, disposal sequence, wallet separation and auditability of the data set. The German tax guides of Blockpit carry the note "Geprüft von Matthias Steger" (reviewed by Matthias Steger). The vendors we work with are listed on the page about the compliance review.