Moving to Germany
Germany does not tax crypto on arrival, and it lets you keep the holding period you already built. Both advantages depend on the same thing: being able to prove, years later, what you bought and when. Most of that evidence is easiest to secure before you move.
- Residence or habitual abode creates unlimited tax liability — citizenship is irrelevant.
- There is no German entry tax on crypto assets.
- Your existing holding period continues; it does not restart on arrival.
- The country you leave may charge exit tax — that has to be planned before departure.
- Note: secure your acquisition evidence while you still have access to the platforms.
What makes you taxable here
Two triggers, either of which is enough on its own.
A residence
A dwelling you keep and use in circumstances suggesting you will retain it. It need not be owned or even leased in your name, and it need not be your main home. A flat kept available for you can be enough.
A habitual abode
Presence in Germany in circumstances showing more than a temporary stay — as a rule after more than six months of continuous presence, with short interruptions disregarded.
All income worldwide becomes taxable in Germany, subject to any double taxation treaty. For crypto that includes holdings on exchanges outside the country and gains realised on platforms that have no connection to Germany at all.
Where you are also treated as resident somewhere else, the treaty tie-breaker decides which state has the primary right — permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. That analysis belongs at the start, not after the first return is filed.
What happens to what you hold
Less than people fear, and that is precisely why the preparation gets neglected.
Germany has no entry taxation for crypto assets held privately. Arriving with a portfolio is not a taxable event. Nothing is deemed to be disposed of, nothing is revalued, and no step-up in acquisition cost takes place either.
The twelve-month period under section 23 of the Income Tax Act runs from your original acquisition, regardless of where you were resident when you made it. Someone who bought two years ago in another country and moves to Germany can sell free of German income tax on arrival.
That is a genuine advantage over many jurisdictions. It is also an advantage that evaporates entirely if the acquisition date cannot be evidenced — and then the tax office estimates, typically with acquisition cost of zero and no exemption.
The absence of a step-up cuts both ways. Your acquisition cost remains what you originally paid, so unrealised gains built up before the move remain in the German tax base if you sell within the period. Where a portfolio has appreciated heavily and the period has not yet run, that is worth modelling before the move rather than after.
The evidence problem
The single most common failure in inbound cases, and it is entirely avoidable.
People move, close accounts they no longer need, lose access to an exchange that operated only in their previous country, and discover three years later that the acquisition data for half the portfolio no longer exists anywhere.
By then the burden of proof is theirs. Section 90(2) of the Fiscal Code imposes an enhanced duty to cooperate for cross-border matters, and it includes a duty of evidence in advance — you must obtain records while you can, not when asked.
Acquisition date, quantity and cost for every position; the price source used; the platform or address involved; and the transfers between your own wallets, marked as such. For each of those an export in the original format is worth more than a spreadsheet you typed up afterwards.
- Sec. 1 EStGunlimited liability on worldwide income
- Sec. 8, 9 AOresidence and habitual abode
- Sec. 23 EStGholding period continues from original purchase
- Sec. 90(2) AOenhanced duty, including evidence in advance
- Sec. 162 AOestimation where evidence is missing
- No step-upacquisition cost stays what you paid
Banks are the other reason to keep this evidence. A German bank asked to receive a large crypto-derived transfer will ask where it came from — and an incomplete answer freezes the payment. Source of funds evidence (in German)
Before you move
Four things that are far easier now than they will be later.
Check exit taxation where you are
Several jurisdictions treat emigration as a deemed disposal. Where that applies, the amount depends on the date and on what you hold on it — which makes the timing of the move a decision with a price attached. This is settled with an adviser in the country you are leaving, before you go.
Export everything
Full transaction exports from every platform in the original format, with the date of export. Include accounts you intend to close. Once an account is closed the history is usually gone, and local platforms are the ones you are most likely to abandon.
Write down your own addresses
A list of every address you control lets transfers between your own wallets be recognised as such. Without it, German software books them as disposals — creating gains that never happened and destroying holding periods that did.
Model the first two years
Whether to realise gains before the move or after depends on both tax systems and on where the twelve-month periods fall. This is the one decision that cannot be revisited afterwards.
After you arrive
The administrative side, which is mostly straightforward once the evidence is in place.
- Registration of residence. Required within a short period of moving in. The tax identification number follows automatically.
- Tax number for the assessment. Applied for through a questionnaire from the tax office; we file it and answer the crypto-related questions in it, which are easy to answer unhelpfully.
- Certificate of residence. Needed where another state should apply a treaty rate to income you continue to receive there.
- First return. Filed in German. Through an adviser an extended deadline applies. Which form takes which transaction
- Earlier years. If you were previously resident in Germany and did not declare, arriving again does not reset that. Voluntary disclosure
Questions and answers
When do I become taxable in Germany?
Does Germany tax my crypto on the day I arrive?
Does my holding period start again when I move?
What if my home country charges exit tax?
I hold on a foreign exchange. Does Germany still see it?
What do I need to register?
Legal position: 25 August 2026. Sources: sections 1, 23 of the Income Tax Act; sections 8, 9, 90, 162 of the Fiscal Code; the applicable double taxation treaty in each case.
Exit taxation in the country of departure is governed by that country's law and requires advice there. This page is not advice on an individual case. Where this English text and the German version differ, the German version governs.