比特币支付：自由职业者如何为加密收入纳税

Charging fees in Bitcoin: Double tax incidents for freelancers or traders

If you accept Bitcoin as a fee as a freelancer or trader, this creates two separate tax incidents, and the second event tends to surprise most people. The first is the revenue inflow link: this fee is considered ordinary business income and its value is calculated based on its equivalent in euros on the day it is received. The second is everything that happens after these coins. And this is where you apply different rules than private investors, because the familiar one-year holding period rule does not apply to commercial assets.

This article answers relevant questions based on the German Income Tax Law, Value Added Tax Law and two relevant notices issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance. This article is not a substitute for professional advice in a case, but it can help you clarify what questions you should ask a tax adviser before issuing an invoice to your first customer, and what information you need to record yourself.

Bitcoin as a fee: Why inflows are ordinary business income

Business income refers to the increase in any currency or asset with monetary value arising from business activities. Bitcoin is an "asset with monetary value", not the currency itself, and all its tax treatments stem from this definition. From a tax perspective, the form of payment does not change the fact that you provide the service and receive consideration for it. Whether a customer transfers euros or pays bitcoin, a graphic designer who produces graphic designs for the event completes the sale.

该收入应按其流入时的欧元金额进行估值。根据《所得税法》第4条第3款规定的现金基础利润计算方式，适用“流入原则”：关键在于您可以经济上处置这些硬币的那一天，通常指硬币到达您的钱包并获得确认的那一天。既不是开票日期，也不是您最终将其兑换成欧元的那一天。

由此得出第一条实用建议，且无需成本：记录流入时刻的价格，最好保留截图、来源和时间。

这一单一数据同时确定了两件事：即您的商业收入金额，以及这些硬币后续所有交易的取得成本。未能记录这一点的人日后必须重新构建数据，而在价格波动剧烈的情况下，这通常对您不利。

以比特币开票：增值税层面的实际影响

这里澄清一个最顽固的误解。确实，比特币在增值税方面享有优惠待遇，但这仅适用于兑换行为，而非您的服务本身。

您提供的服务仍须缴纳增值税，这与任何欧元发票完全相同。任何提供价值5,000欧元网页设计服务的人，即使客户以硬币支付，也需就该金额缴纳增值税。

依据是2018年2月27日联邦财政部关于比特币增值税处理的通告，该通告实施了欧洲法院（Hedqvist案，C-264/14，2015年10月22日判决）的裁决。其中两点陈述值得了解：

1. 交付比特币仅是为了结算付款，不构成应税交易。
2. 在此范围内，比特币的使用与传统支付方式 treated 相同。因此，客户以硬币支付并未向您提供额外服务。

基于符合欧盟法律的《增值税法》第4条第8款b项，比特币兑换为传统货币的行为免税。如果您随后将收到的硬币兑换成欧元，这种兑换本身不会触发增值税。

这就留下了计算增值税的基础金额问题。关键在于提供服务时的欧元等价物，按最后公布的卖出汇率换算。在实践中这意味着：您的发票应注明欧元金额及相应的欧元增值税，而以硬币支付仅仅是结算该金额的方式。仅注明硬币金额的发票对税务局而言是无用的。

流入和随后的出售是两个独立的事件，且分别估值。

小规模纳税人制度（增值税法第19条）：何时不收取增值税

如果您符合小规模纳税人条件，增值税部分将消失，事情变得简单得多。根据2025年以来生效的《增值税法》第19条措辞，如果上一日历年的总营业额不超过25,000欧元，且当前日历年的总营业额不超过100,000欧元，则您的营业额免征增值税。如果在年度内突破第二项阈值，优惠将从那一刻起终止。

Despite this, two points have not changed. First, income tax is not affected: the full amount of your expenses is still considered business income. Secondly, you still need to clearly establish the euro equivalent, as this number determines whether you are still within the threshold. In the case of sharp price fluctuations, this is not a matter of detail: a business that is below the threshold when invoiced may be above the threshold when it flows in.

The real trap: There is no one-year holding period for commercial assets

This is where commercial and private processing diverge completely, and in practice often causes the greatest economic losses. As a private investor, you know the provisions of Article 23, paragraph 1, sentence 1, item 2, of the Income Tax Law: If more than one year has elapsed between acquisition and sale, income is exempt from tax.

This does not apply to crypto assets held as commercial assets.

There, no matter how long you hold coins, all changes in value are subject to continued taxation. A specific example can illustrate the consequences. Suppose you issue an invoice for 10,000 euros and collect it in Bitcoin. On the day they flowed in, these coins were worth € 10,000, so you account for € 10,000 in business income. Two years later, you sold the same coin for 18,000 euros. As a private investor, the price gain of € 8,000 will be tax-free once the one-year period has passed. But as business assets, they are an additional € 8,000 of business income and are taxed at your personal tax rate, plus business tax for traders.

反之亦然，这也是该规则的安慰之处：如果在流入和出售之间价值下跌，该损失会减少您的商业利润，且不受私人领域适用的抵消限制。在私人资产中，来自私人处置交易的损失只能抵销同类的收益。而在商业中，它们 simply 是一项支出。

在商业资产中，没有任何价值变动能逃脱税收，即使经过多年。

私人资产还是商业资产：分配的关键所在

由于如此多的事项取决于这一区分，仔细审视是值得的。您作为商业服务对价收到的硬币，在流入时进入您的商业资产。

这不是您做出的选择，而是交易的结果，因为这些硬币源于您的商业活动。2025年3月6日修订后的联邦财政部通告明确区分了私人资产和商业资产中的加密资产，并特别强调分配问题。

如果您想将这些硬币转入私人资产，那将被视为提款，而提款按持续经营价值估值。至此为止积累的任何隐藏储备 thereby 被实现并征税。因此，切换到私人领域并不是逃避商业税务的方法；它只是提前了税务征收时间。然而，从提款开始，私人持有期开始计算，提款价值作为取得成本。

因此，请在技术上将商业持仓和私人持仓分开，最好使用不同的钱包。任何人将两者混合在同一地址中，几乎无法在日后证明分配情况，而举证责任在您。这与将商业账户和私人账户分开的思路相同。

簿记和记录：每笔支付必须捕获的内容

2025年3月的通告相比2022年的前身，大大扩大了申报表、合作和记录保存义务的要求。对于您这样的自雇人士来说，这意味着具体而言，您对每笔 incoming payment 的记录要比银行转账多。固定的一组每次捕获的细节是有意义的：

• 流入日期和时间：意味着硬币可用的时刻，而不是开票的时刻。
• 加密资产的数量和类型：以其到达时的单位计量。
• 使用的价格及其来源：以便欧元数字保持可追溯性，避免日后争议。
• 由此得出的欧元金额：既作为商业收入，也作为取得成本。
• 接收地址或账户：以便证明其归属于商业资产。
• 相关的发票：包含欧元金额和单独列出的增值税（如您收取的话）。

Because manual operations quickly accumulate workload, it's worth having software that can automatically combine inflows and prices and distinguish between commercial and private positions. Which tools can do this and what the differences are, see a comparison of crypto tax software and portfolio trackers. When selecting, make sure that commercial positions can be kept separately, because many programs are designed for private investors and don't even know the difference.

Price risk between invoicing and payment: What is agreed in the contract

There is often a few weeks between the time you issue the invoice and the arrival of the coins. Prices will fluctuate during this period, and if there are no terms, you will bear this risk alone. Both conventional routes are contractual content rather than arrangements reached through messaging.

One route is denominated in euros: you agree on a euro amount and record the corresponding amount of coins the customer owes when making payment. Then they bear the price risk and your bookkeeping remains simple because the invoice amount is consistent with the euro business income. Another route is priced in a fixed number of coins. This may make sense if you plan to hold these coins, but it transfers the entire price risk to you, meaning there will be a disagreement between the invoice amount and the actual inflow.

You also need to agree on which price and source will apply, how long the offer will be valid, and who will bear the network fees. Internet fees are not details: If the amount you receive decreases due to deductions, the inflow will decrease accordingly, and your claim will remain in full.

Trader or freelancer: What's the difference for you

In terms of income tax, at first it makes no difference whether you are freelancing under Section 18 of the Income Tax Act or trading under Section 15: In both cases, expenses are business income, and in both cases, coins are commercial assets with no holding period. The difference is the business tax, which applies only to trade, placing an additional burden on subsequent price gains.

The second difference involves the method of calculating profits. Freelance members, regardless of size, can use cash base profits to calculate, and the inflow principle applies here. On the other hand, if you need to maintain double-entry bookkeeping, then what matters is not the inflow, but the generation of receivables, and crypto assets must be valued on the balance sheet date. This is a different arithmetic world with its own valuation issues, and at this point, you should at least not think about it alone.

Instant conversion to euros or hold: The practical trade-off

Many self-employed people convert coins to euros immediately after receiving them. From a tax perspective, this is the cleanest approach for the simple reason: If inflows and sales occur on the same day at almost the same price, there will be no significant change in value that needs to be recorded and taxed separately. Then you only have one event instead of two, and the exchange itself is exempt from VAT.

另一方面，如果您想持有这些硬币，请睁大眼睛行事。之后每一次价格变动在商业中都是应税的，您需要扎实的估值，并且您正将商业资产锁定在波动价值中，而您的纳税义务以欧元产生并到期。任何在春季收取大额费用并在次年支付税款的人，如果价格下跌，可能会遇到流动性缺口，尽管他们从未卖出过一分钱。税收是基于流入时的价值计算的，而不是今天的 price。

如果您确实打算长期持有余额，保管问题也随之而来。永久置于商业资产中的硬币不应无限期地留在交易账户上。

对以费用形式收到的比特币征税：要点总结

以下三个步骤帮助您在开始时正确建立体系：

1. 以欧元约定并记录流入：以欧元金额开具发票并单独列出增值税，收到时记录日期、时间、数量、价格和来源。您可以在哪里可靠地实现欧元等价物，请参阅加密货币交易所比较。
2. 在技术上分离商业和私人持仓：为费用使用专用地址，以便日后证明归属，防止私人持仓被纳入商业税务。对于永久持有的余额，拥有专门的保管解决方案是值得的；候选人参见硬件钱包比较。
3. 以欧元规划税收并决定性地持有：A tax portion is set aside as soon as the fee arrives in the account, taking into account that every subsequent price change will still be taxable in the business. People who frequently transfer large amounts will find the right trading route in broker comparisons.

You can read the two main administrative instructions yourself: the income tax treatment in the Federal Ministry of Finance Notice of March 6, 2025 on individual issues regarding the personal income tax treatment of certain crypto assets, and the Federal Ministry of Finance dated February 27, 2018 on the value-added tax treatment of Bitcoin. What is the tax situation when you receive crypto assets not as a self-employed person but as an employee? See our article on Bitcoin salaries; we have written separately about the basics of private investors.

(As of September 23, 2026. This article does not constitute investment advice. Price and fee structures are subject to change; please check terms with your provider before purchasing.)