Germany's crypto asset holding period before the October 12 petition committee: Key issues at hand

October 12: The petition committee of the Bundestag publicly debates the holding period of cryptocurrency

Starting from 12 noon on Monday, October 12, 2026, the petition committee of the Bundestag will publicly debate the issue of tax holding periods for cryptocurrency assets. The meeting was not reviewed behind closed doors: those who intend to attend can complete their registration before 12 noon on October 9; if they miss the registration deadline, they can also follow the meeting progress through live broadcasts. No decision will be made on Monday, but it is the only last time point in public view that could move things forward before the cabinet steps in on October 14.

This article will sort out the following three core issues: What are the specific contents of the agenda on October 12? What does petition No. 201716 require? and what the planned December 31, 2026 deadline means for assets currently held in portfolios or self-managed wallets.

The petition committee will hold a debate from 12 noon to 2 pm on October 12.

The German Bundestag has set a date and announced it itself. The Petition Committee will review two petition matters in a row at an open committee meeting. At 12 noon, the top topic was "Income tax-retaining the tax holding period for private disposal of cryptocurrency assets." At 1 p.m., a second, substantively irrelevant issue related to animal experiments will be considered. The total duration of this period is two hours, leaving about one hour for cryptocurrency issues.

The meeting venue is located in Conference Room 3.101 at the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus Building in Berlin. At the meeting, the petitioner had the opportunity to briefly present the case and explain the members 'questions. For investors, the most important sentence in the announcement is another: government representatives will attend and accept questions from members. This means that the government must publicly and formally express its views on the holding period two days before the cabinet's own meeting. All details are set out in the announcement of the Bundestag Petition Committee.

Petition No. 201716: A petition filed with the Bundestag by 44,439 cosigners

The petition, numbered 201716, calls for retaining a one-year holding period for private disposal of cryptocurrency assets. As such, it is directly targeted at future plans to tax cryptocurrency gains regardless of the duration of holding.

Public petitions submitted to the Bundestag need to meet the quorum threshold, i.e., obtain the minimum number of co-signatures within the signing period, before the committee can consider them in public session. The threshold is 30,000 signatures. According to statistics, the threshold was reached less than a day after public signatures were opened; the final count was 44,439 co-signatures. The petition text itself and the discussion process are hosted by the Bundestag under entry 201716 on its public petition portal.

The signing period has closed on September 15. Regarding the next process, we previously left a blank space in our article about the end of the signing period because the committee had not yet set a date at the time. The announcement now issued by the Bundestag fills this gap.

《个人所得税法》第23条下的持有期：一句话分类

持有期是指从购买到出售之间的一段时期，在此期间，私人持有的资产增值部分免税。对于私人持有的加密货币，现行法律规定的持有期为一年，受《德国个人所得税法》第23条关于私人处置的规定管辖。任何人只要持有比特币或其他加密货币超过十二个月后再出售，其收益无需缴纳所得税。如果在持有期届满前出售，且超过了私人处置的阈值，则需按个人收入税率对收益缴税。

正是这一机制面临被废除的风险。如果持有期缩短，出售时刻在税务上不再具有决定性意义：无论持仓两周还是六年，收益都将面临征税。对于长期持有的投资者而言，真正的打击不在于税率水平，而在于持有期的取消。

10月9日中午12点前注册：如何进入委员会会议室

感兴趣的公众和媒体代表可在2026年10月9日中午12点前向请愿委员会秘书处注册，需提供姓名和出生日期。注册邮箱为 vorzimmer.peta@bundestag.de。

There are two points in the announcement that are easy to ignore. First of all: If the quota is excessive, seats will only be allocated based on the order of arrival. People who want to be present must register as early as possible, not just on time. Secondly: Entry requires valid ID documents, and the German Bundestag police will conduct reliability checks on registered guests. Data submitted for this purpose (last name, first name and date of birth) will be deleted or destroyed after the visit.

Media representatives also need to be certified to enter the Bundestag building. Unauthorized photography and recording (such as using a mobile phone) are not allowed; mobile phones must be turned off in the committee room.

Live vs. Parliament TV: Where to watch meetings

Anyone can miss the registration deadline or not want to travel to Berlin, but that doesn't mean you will miss the substance. The meeting will be broadcast live online on bundestag.de and on the German Bundestag's Parliamentary TV channel. Subsequently, the video will be made permanently available on the Bundestag page.

This actually means: Live broadcasts are enough for those who just want to know government representatives 'answers to specific questions. Permanent recording is the underrated part. People who were unable to follow the meeting during Monday lunchtime can find verifiable statements later in the same place, and in exact wording rather than a summary.

Contents of the Ministry of Finance Draft Bill

The draft bill is a draft legislation at the work level of the ministry. It is first referred to associations and interest groups for comments, then reviewed by the Cabinet, and can only become applicable law through a resolution of the Bundestag and the Bundestag. Therefore, at this stage, nothing is binding.

In essence, the Ministry of Finance's draft stipulates that in the future privately held cryptocurrency assets should be classified as capital asset gains under Article 20 of the German Personal Income Tax Law. With this shift, the one-year holding period will disappear because its speculative period no longer applies to Article 23. Instead, gains will be subject to a 25% proportional withholding tax, plus a solidarity surcharge, and a church tax if applicable. The association's consultation schedule is tight: Comments are only valid until October 6. The path of the draft to the cabinet has been set out in our analysis of the cabinet dates.

To put October 12 in the background, it is important that petitions and draft bills are two separate avenues. The committee considers requests to the Bundestag. Ministries and commissions run legislative procedures in parallel. The two meet only in Parliament, which has not yet met during the session.

The grandfather clause and the deadline of December 31, 2026

For existing portfolios, the most critical issue is the "grandfather clause"(i.e., the principle of letting bygones be bygones). According to the draft bill, the new tax regime will apply to cryptocurrency assets acquired or received after December 31, 2026. For positions acquired before, the rule is that the previous legal status will continue to apply, that is, a one-year holding period will be reserved for them.

由此产生了一个不起眼但后果严重的变化：决定性的日期不再是出售，而是获得。任何人在有疑问时无法证明持仓是何时获得的，将难以援引祖父条款。对于通过交易所进行的购买，日期在账单上；而对于钱包之间的转账、兑换以及来自质押或空投的收入，文档记录很快就会变得繁琐。带有税务功能的投资组合追踪器可以将这些数据汇总在一起，同时数据仍可从交易所检索。至于为什么草案将截止日期定在年初，我们在祖父条款的分析中进行了详细拆解。

请愿程序的结尾并不是法律的改变，而是向联邦议院提出的决策建议。

请愿程序：委员会投票的影响

请愿权载于《基本法》第17条：每个人都可以向主管当局和立法机构提出请求和投诉。请愿委员会审查此类提交，并以向联邦议院提出的决策建议结束程序，全体大会随后据此进行裁决。

现实地说，这对10月12日的意义在于：会议不会导致草案法案的任何改变，委员会投票也不约束联邦政府。指望请愿能挽救持有期的人高估了这一工具的作用。公开审议所能提供的明确结果是：公开会议要求政府代表面对镜头回答议员的问题，并使这些回答永久可查。对于判断部委时间表的坚定程度而言，这比任何关于多数派的猜测都更有价值。

为什么听证会安排在10月14日内阁会议前两天

日期的顺序构成了一幅密集的画面。起点是2026年7月6日内阁关于2027年预算法案的决定，其中包含了加密货币资产的税收重组。随后提出了请愿，签署于9月15日结束。与此同时，草案法案提交给协会，其评论期于10月6日结束。10月12日，请愿委员会公开审议；10月14日，内阁拟通过该草案。

这两天的距离使得这个日期对投资者来说不仅仅是一个议会常规项目。10月14日之后，内阁决定存在，讨论的重点将从“持有期是否会取消”转移到“过渡规则是什么样的”。在10月14日之前，12日是政府就该项目的唯一公开场合。

德国投资者在12月31日前可以检查的事项

An honest starting position is this: There is no law passed, and no one can seriously say what version of the rules will eventually appear in the Federal Law Gazette. Still, you can make some preparations, and this is exactly what you need in every conceivable version.

The first point is evidence collection. According to the draft, the moment of acquisition determines whether a position falls within the scope of the grandfather clause. Anyone who has made sporadic purchases over the past few years and across multiple platforms should export billing and transaction history now, while the account still exists and the data can still be retrieved. Exchanges close old accounts, switch reporting formats, or remove trading pairs; historical records that can be pulled in just two clicks today may require a support request to obtain them a year later. Which platforms provide complete tax reporting and which only provide a list of raw data that is displayed in our crypto exchange comparisons.

The second point is self-hosting. Anyone holding assets in a self-managed wallet has no provider to issue a confirmation when in doubt. Here, your own documents carry everything: purchase receipts from the original exchange, transfer dates and transaction IDs, destination wallet addresses. This chain should remain intact until needed.

The third point is to refrain from tax-driven reallocations. Exchange of one cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency is considered a disposal and new acquisition for tax purposes. Reconfiguration shortly before any possible deadline could undermine the crucial gain moment later. For personal circumstances, the responsibility of the tax consultant, not the article; this article does not replace tax advice.

Cryptocurrency holding period: summary of key points

October 12 will not bring a decision, but it will be the last public exchange before the cabinet meeting. This leads to three steps:

• Organize your acquisition dates. Gather all purchase, redemption, and income dates in one place, because the moment of acquisition determines the application of the grandfather clause of the plan. Tax tools or portfolio trackers can be integrated across multiple platforms.
• Extract evidence from the exchange. Export transaction history and tax reports and save them locally before account or report format changes. See which providers publish available reports for details on exchange comparisons.
• Record self-managed positions. There is no provider receipt for coins in your own wallet, so the purchase receipt, transfer date and destination address should be filed together. Which device is suitable for this purpose is shown in our hardware wallet comparison.

And on Monday, once the October 9 registration deadline has passed, live broadcasts on bundestag.de will be enough.

(As of October 6, 2026. This article does not constitute investment advice. Price and fee structures are subject to change; please check terms with your provider before purchasing.)