Sell Bitcoin at a loss and buy it back immediately: The impact on the holding period

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Tax impact of loss selling and repurchase of Bitcoin in Germany: Holding period reset and FIFO rule analysis

In Germany, any act of selling a Bitcoin position at a loss for tax purposes and buying the same amount in a short period of time will trigger two results simultaneously: the loss is recognized and remains deductible; at the same time, the holding period of the purchased portion is calculated from scratch. This is the cost of this decision, and its core depends on a key date: the acquisition date of the newly purchased unit.

This week's market decline provides an opportunity for this. On September 17, 2026, the price of Bitcoin was US$76,555 (approximately 66,712 euros), and the price of Ethereum was US$2,453 (approximately 2,138 euros). These data are displayed in data obtained by CryptoTicker.io through the CoinGecko public price interface. As a result, many positions established over the past year are currently in floating losses, and the question of "whether to accept losses and immediately re-enter" is becoming particularly urgent in the portfolios of many German investors.

Selling and repurchase at a loss: Real tax consequences

In Germany, cryptocurrency assets are considered "other economic assets." Therefore, the sale of them is a "private disposal transaction" under Article 23 of the Income Tax Act, rather than a fixed withholding tax. This may sound like a technical detail, but it determines the logic of all subsequent tax processing.

私人处置交易是指在获取后一年内的销售。由此产生的收益需按个人所得税率征税，但作为交换，亏损也可以用于抵扣。一旦持有超过一年，出售则免税，但这把双刃剑的另一面是：收益免税，但亏损也失去效力，无法抵扣。

后半部分常被忽视。如果一个十八个月前购买、目前浮亏30%的头寸，由于已超出持有期，不再具有可用的税务亏损属性。该头寸已脱离保护期，出售它除了带来流动性外，没有任何税务意义。

每笔持仓必须关注的三个数据

对于持仓中的每一独立批次，有三个信息至关重要：获取日期、获取成本以及数量。获取日期决定了一年的免税期是否仍在进行中；获取成本决定了是否存在亏损；数量则告诉你在不触碰其他批次的情况下可以移动多少份额。

带有投资组合跟踪功能的加密税务软件可以分别为每笔购买显示这三个数值。缺乏这些数据，就无法做出清晰的亏损卖出决策。

第23条的一年持有期：为何回购会启动新的计时器

持有期是指特定单位从获取到处置之间的时间间隔。这个期限附着于具体的单位，而非硬币本身或账户。每一次购买都会启动属于自己的计时器。

由此得出本文的核心观点：如果你今天出售0.3枚比特币（2026年1月买入），并在十分钟后再次买入0.3枚比特币，你并没有恢复原来的头寸。你建立了一个拥有新获取日期的新头寸。旧的八个月持有时间不可转移；它们已在出售中被消耗殆尽。新单位直到2027年9月才会获得免税资格。

对于一个仅存在几周的头寸，这种成本几乎可以忽略不计。但对于一个只需三个月就能达到一年免税期的头寸，成本则是这三个月加上额外的十二个月。这是真实的计算逻辑，且对每一批次而言结果各不相同。

每次回购都会为新购入的单位启动一个新的为期一年的持有期。

德国是否有类似美国的洗售规则（Wash Sale Rule）？

没有。根据美国税法，洗售规则规定如果在出售前30天或后30天内买回相同或实质相同的证券，亏损不得抵扣，而是计入新头寸的成本基础（第1091条法案）。

德国所得税法在私人处置交易方面没有对应的等效规定。第23条中没有禁止重新入场的等待期，也没有将亏损转移到新获取成本的条款。亏损保留在其发生的地方，即出售当年。

任何阅读美国指南或使用国际税务工具的人，在将其规则应用于德国税务局之前，都应了解这一差异。此类文本中经常出现的三十天窗口期对德国纳税申报没有任何影响。

《税收通则》第42条与同日回购：联邦财政法院的裁决

这就引出了税务机关偶尔提出的异议：滥用法律结构。根据德国《税收通则》第42条，如果法律安排本质上是为了获取法律未提供的税收优势，则构成滥用。

有一个直接相关的判决，正是针对此处讨论的规定。在2009年8月25日的判决中（案号IX R 60/07），德国联邦财政法院裁定，纳税人如果在一年期内以亏损价格出售证券，并在同日以不同价格买回同类型和数量的证券，并不构成结构滥用。法院认为，出售和回购应作为单独的交易进行评估。争议事项是依据第23条进行的私人处置交易，也就是今天加密货币所适用的同一规定。

该判决针对的是股票而非加密货币，且并非无条件的通行证。然而，这是对此类情况最接近最高法院的声明，它支持“重新入场本身不会危及亏损抵扣权”的观点。任何人若希望获得完全确定性，应在提交申报前由税务顾问审查此案；只有从税务局获得具有约束力的裁定，才能在个案中获得真正的法律确定性。

FIFO原则：为何回购的比特币排在队列末尾

FIFO代表“先进先出”（First In, First Out），意味着最早获取的单位被视为最先被处置的单位。对于加密货币资产，德国联邦财政部在2025年3月6日的通函中更详细地规定了这一消耗顺序，并附带了记录保存和合作义务。该通函的文件编号为IV C 1 - S 2256/00042/064/043，取代了2022年5月的版本。它可在联邦财政部网站上公开查阅。

在实践中，这意味着你的购买记录按日期排队。当你出售时，队列从前端开始清除。回购的部分则加入该队列的末尾。

这在市场下跌时会形成一个常见的陷阱。队列前端的单位是最古老的，通常也是持有时间最长、税务地位最好的单位。为了实现亏损而触发部分出售时，根据FIFO原则，首先触及的往往是这些旧单位，而这些旧单位可能根本没有浮亏。错误的批次亏损卖出反而会产生应税收益，而非可用的亏损。

如何在实践中区分它们

法律条文可以在《所得税法》第23条的全文中阅读。要清晰地控制消耗顺序，必须按钱包和交易所账户分别保留持仓，因为根据财政部通函，评估原则上是按单个钱包或单个账户进行的。在同一平台上有三个平台的用户拥有三条独立的队列，而不是共享的一条。哪个交易所提供哪种导出格式差异很大；在规划涉及多个账户的亏损卖出之前，查看我们的交易所比较是有价值的。

回购的代价：用近乎免税的头寸换取亏损

这一决策可以简化为一个问题：是今天的亏损更有价值，还是剩余的持有时间更有价值？

对于一个仅两个月老的头寸，答案通常很明确。剩余的十个月是可以管理的筹码，亏损可以立即生效。对于一个已经十一个月的老头寸，情况则相反。距离免税仅剩一个月；回购会将其重置为十二个月，并将未来收益可能面临征税的时间窗口延长十一个月。

此外，还有一个容易在算术中被忽略的点：亏损只有在同年或以后有来自私人处置交易的收益与之对冲时才具有价值。第23条下的亏损进入其自身的抵扣池。它们不能用于抵消工资收入、租金收入或股票的股息收入。如果不期望相应的收益， realized 的亏损将在多年内闲置不用。我们在2026年9月9日的文章中详细阐述了这种抵扣机制及截止日期，标题为“一年期届满前的加密亏损”。

根据FIFO原则，出售始终消耗前端单位，即最古老的那个单位。

1,000欧元免税阈值：何时亏损卖出才值得

免税阈值是一个界限，一旦超过，整个金额都将变为应税，而不仅仅是超额部分。对于私人处置交易，这一门槛在一个日历年的总收益达到1,000欧元时触发。

For repurchase decisions, this means two things. If your annual private disposal transaction gains are below the threshold anyway, the additional realized losses are tax worthless because there is no gain to reduce. The reverse is true: if you just exceed the threshold, targeted loss selling can push total earnings below 1,000 euros, making the entire amount tax-exempt. This is the only situation where selling at a loss yields a jump rather than a proportional return.

Grandfather clause on December 31, 2026: Possible changes brought about by repurchase next year

A draft on future taxation of cryptocurrencies is under discussion, and plans to convert to a fixed withholding tax from 2027, with a grandfather clause exemption for previously acquired positions. This is a draft, not current law; nothing in it has been adopted and deadlines may move or disappear completely.

However, if ultimately implemented, the acquisition date will have a secondary meaning in addition to the holding period. Units you buy back today will be deemed to have been obtained before the deadline. Units you only buy back in January next year will not. Anyone who is already weighing a loss sale versus a subsequent repurchase has reason not to postpone it until next year. We summarized the current status and outstanding issues of the draft in our September 8, 2026 article "Holding Period and Grandfather Clause".

What matters is the order of certainty: a one-year period applies to the present and is established law. The grandfather clause is an expectation. Decisions based solely on expectations are untenable.

The tax authorities require proof of what losses and repurchases

The Ministry of Finance circular of March 6, 2025 more strictly frames record-keeping and cooperation obligations than its predecessor. For loss sales with repurchase, specifically: Both transactions must be recorded individually, including time, quantity, price and platform.

In practice, you need exchange export files for sell and repurchase transactions, each with a timestamp. If the position comes from your own wallet, you also need to provide proof of origin. A statement showing the total number of positions held alone is not enough because a one-year period is attached to individual batches.

The most difficult to correct errors

Export data in a timely manner. Anyone who delisted, closed an account, or changed a provider and found that historical data could not be retrieved, loses the certificate, and with it loses the right to deduct losses. This is not a theoretical risk: In recent weeks alone, several trading platforms have set deadlines for withdrawing balances, after which the account interface will be inaccessible.