DAC 8 and the closing window
Directive (EU) 2023/2226 obliges crypto asset service providers to report their users to the tax authorities, who then exchange the data automatically across the Union. For anyone with undeclared years, the practical question is not whether the data arrives, but when.
- Platforms, brokers, custodians and intermediaries report — including providers outside the EU serving EU users.
- Reported data covers identity, tax identification number, residence and the trading activity itself.
- Existing accounts are covered, not just newly opened ones.
- What closes voluntary disclosure is arrival at your local tax office, not the report itself.
- Note: a valid disclosure must be complete, and completeness takes weeks of preparation.
Who reports, and who does not
The scope is wider than "European exchanges", and narrower than "everything".
Caught: service providers
Trading platforms, brokers, custodians and intermediaries providing crypto asset services to users resident in the EU. Establishment outside the Union does not remove the obligation where the provider serves EU users.
Caught: existing relationships
Due diligence extends to accounts that already exist. There is no grandfathering for long-standing customers — which is precisely why undeclared earlier years are exposed.
Not caught: self-custody
Where there is no service provider, there is nothing to report. Holdings on your own hardware wallet are not the subject of a report.
Not caught: you
The obligation falls on providers, not on users. Your duty is the ordinary one — to declare your income completely and accurately.
Value has to enter and leave. The moment it does so through a platform, the connection between your identity and an address becomes visible — and a public blockchain can be analysed backwards from that point. Self-custody removes a report; it does not remove the trail.
What is transmitted
Two blocks of data: who you are, and what you did.
| Block | Contents | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Identification | Name, address, date of birth, country or countries of residence, tax identification number | Makes the account attributable to a specific person and a specific tax office |
| Fiat exchanges | Acquisitions and disposals against legal tender, with amounts | The classic entry and exit points, and the easiest to reconcile against bank data |
| Crypto-to-crypto | Exchanges between crypto assets | Each of these is a disposal under German law — the area most often left out of returns |
| Transfers | Movements in and out, including to addresses not held with the provider | Shows that holdings exist beyond the platform |
The third row is the one that surprises people. Many investors declared their euro withdrawals and assumed that settled the matter. Under German law every swap is a taxable disposal, and the reported data shows those swaps directly. Why a swap resets the holding period
The route the data takes
Three stations. Only the last one matters legally.
The provider reports to the authority of the member state in which it is registered. That authority passes the data to the state of the user's residence — in Germany, to the Federal Central Tax Office. From there it is routed to the tax office actually responsible for the individual.
Each step takes time, and the intervals are not published in a way that lets anyone plan to the day. Treating the schedule as a countdown you can run to the wire is the wrong reading of it.
In our view the decisive point is arrival at the tax office responsible for you — not the report to the Federal Central Tax Office, and not the moment an official happens to open the file.
From that point a reasonable person must reckon with discovery, and section 371(2) sentence 1 no 2 of the Fiscal Code bars a voluntary disclosure. Whether anyone has actually read the data is irrelevant to the test.
- Legal basisDirective (EU) 2023/2226
- Reporting partythe crypto asset service provider
- Routevia the Federal Central Tax Office
- Decisivearrival at your local tax office
- Barsec. 371(2) s. 1 no 2 Fiscal Code
- Consequenceno voluntary disclosure thereafter
Once the bar applies, what remains is cooperation in the proceedings, not a disclosure with the benefit of impunity. The difference is measured in years of assessment and, above the threshold, in the surcharge under section 398a.
What this means for voluntary disclosure
The constraint is not the deadline. It is how long a complete disclosure takes to prepare.
A voluntary disclosure under section 371 of the Fiscal Code only exempts you from punishment if it is complete. Complete means all unexpired years, all types of tax, all facts. A partial disclosure is not a partial success — it fails entirely, and it puts the tax office on notice.
Before anything can be declared, the transaction history has to be reconstructed: exports from every exchange, transfers between your own addresses identified, missing prices supplied for each inflow, the disposal sequence determined. Where a platform has since closed, the data has to be rebuilt from the blockchain and from bank statements.
That is the real timeline. Deciding to make a disclosure the week you expect the data to arrive is deciding too late.
- Every year in which you were resident in Germany and traded is identified
- All exchanges and wallets ever used are listed, including closed accounts
- Raw exports have been secured while access still exists
- Bank statements covering payments to and from exchanges are available
- The scope of the disclosure has been settled before anything is filed
If you have left Germany
A point that catches people out repeatedly.
Leaving Germany ends your unlimited tax liability going forward. It does not close the years in which you were resident. If you traded during a year of German residence and did not declare it, that year stays open until the assessment period expires — ten years where evasion is established, and the limitation period does not start running until the return was due.
Where you move to a low-tax jurisdiction and retain substantial economic interests in Germany, extended limited tax liability under section 2 of the Foreign Tax Act can follow you for up to ten years. And the German tax office will in any case receive reports for the year of departure itself.
If you are planning a move rather than looking back at one, the sequence of steps matters more than the destination. Leaving Germany with crypto assets (in German)
Questions and answers
Who has to report under DAC 8?
What data is transmitted?
Are existing accounts covered, or only new ones?
I live outside Germany. Does this affect me?
When does voluntary disclosure become impossible?
What about self-custodied wallets?
What should I do now?
Legal position: 25 August 2026. Sources: Directive (EU) 2023/2226 and its German implementing legislation; sections 371, 398a of the Fiscal Code; section 2 of the Foreign Tax Act.
The view that arrival at the locally responsible tax office is the decisive moment reflects our own legal assessment. This article is not advice on an individual case. Where this English text and the German version differ, the German version governs.