Crypto tax return
The return itself takes an afternoon. Everything before it — turning exports from six platforms into figures a tax office can follow — is where the work is, and where cases are won or lost.
- Every swap is a disposal, not only conversions into euro.
- Transfers between your own wallets are neutral — if you can show they were yours.
- The disposal sequence must be chosen, recorded and applied consistently.
- A software report is a calculation, not evidence. Its settings must be disclosed.
- Note: declare losses even where no tax is due, or they cannot be used later.
Where the work actually is
Four stages, of which only the last touches a form.
Consolidation
Exports from every exchange and every wallet, merged into one timeline. Duplicate entries removed, missing periods identified. A single unrecorded wallet corrupts the acquisition data of everything that ever left it, so completeness comes before accuracy.
Classifying every movement
Purchase, sale, swap, transfer between your own addresses, reward, fee. The distinction between a transfer and a disposal is the one that matters most — get it wrong and the return shows gains that never existed while destroying holding periods that did.
Prices and disposal sequence
A price at the moment of each inflow, from one consistent source. Then the sequence: which units count as sold. The tax authorities expect the calculation per wallet; whether that is compulsory is the subject of proceedings we run ourselves.
Return and derivation
Totals into the form, the itemised schedule attached, and the method disclosed. Where we take a position that departs from the tax authorities' view, that is stated openly in the return rather than left to be discovered.
A legal position that is set out and reasoned is a disagreement. The same position left unexplained looks like an omission. On several of the open questions we take a different view from the tax authorities — and we say so in the return, which is both more honest and materially safer.
The five expensive mistakes
What we see most often in returns and reports that arrive already prepared.
Only euro withdrawals declared
The most common of all, and rarely deliberate. Under German law a swap between coins is a disposal at that moment. Someone who declared only fiat withdrawals has an incomplete return regardless of intent.
Own transfers booked as sales
Software treats an outgoing transfer as a disposal unless it knows the receiving address is yours. The result is invented gains and lost holding periods — usually in the taxpayer's disfavour on both counts.
Staking rewards omitted
Rewards are income from services at receipt, separate from any later sale. Leaving them out understates one year and leaves the later disposal without an acquisition value.
Losses left undeclared
A loss that is not declared is not determined, and a loss that is not determined cannot offset future gains. In a year with no tax due, the section gets skipped — and the offset is gone for good.
Method changed between years
A disposal sequence applied one way in 2023 and another in 2024 produces figures that cannot be reconciled. Consistency is not a stylistic preference here; without it the whole chain becomes unverifiable.
The filed report not archived
Reports regenerate with different figures as data or settings change. Keeping only your software login means you cannot reproduce what you actually filed — which is exactly what an audit asks for.
Software reports
Useful, necessary, and not sufficient on their own.
A report can be accepted as the basis of an assessment if it appears plausible — no obvious gaps, internally consistent, and not in conflict with what the tax office otherwise knows. But plausibility requires more than the report itself.
Extracts of the report settings must be supplied: the prices used, the disposal method, and the underlying tax positions. Manual corrections do not undermine the report, provided they are marked and explained.
Check it against the raw exports rather than against itself. The recurring findings are wallets missing from the scope, own transfers booked as sales, zero prices for illiquid assets and a method that changed between years. We document the differences instead of quietly overwriting them.
- Includedfive hours of transaction work
- IncludedAnlage SO, Anlage N, Anlage R
- Not includedbusiness income, rental income
- From€2,380 per tax year
- High proceedsbilling under sec. 27 StBVV
- Deadlineextended when filed through an adviser
How the engagement runs
Entirely digital, in English, with a fixed estimate before you commit.
Initial call
What you hold, which years are affected, how many transactions and which platforms. Twenty minutes is usually enough to scope it.
Estimate in writing
Scope and fee before any work begins. Where the effort would exceed the estimate, we come back to you first.
Data and preparation
You supply exports and the address list through an encrypted channel. We consolidate, classify and calculate, and come back with the open questions.
Review before filing
You see the figures and the derivation, explained in English, before anything is transmitted. Nothing is filed without your approval.
Filing and correspondence
Electronic filing, then queries from the tax office handled by us and translated for you.
Assessment review
Every assessment is checked against what we filed. Where an open legal question is affected, we keep it open by appeal. Model appeal (in German)
Questions and answers
Can I not just use crypto tax software myself?
What do you need from me?
What if an exchange no longer exists?
Do you file in German?
I live outside Germany but have German tax liability. Can you act?
What does it cost?
Legal position: 25 August 2026. Sources: sections 22 no 3, 23 of the Income Tax Act; sections 90, 162 of the Fiscal Code; Federal Ministry of Finance circular of 6 March 2025, in particular paragraphs 55, 61 f., 90 f. and 101 ff.
This page is not advice on an individual case. Where this English text and the German version differ, the German version governs.