Holding period of crypto assets: withholding tax when there is no purchase record is overvalued by t

咨询窗口已关闭，内阁审议在即

协会与专家需在2026年10月6日前向联邦财政部提交关于改革部分私人持有加密资产税收的法案草案意见。该9月30日发布的草案规定，自2026年12月31日起获得的所有加密资产将取消为期一年的免税持有期。

周一（10月12日），联邦议院请愿委员会将就请愿书201716举行公开辩论，该请愿书呼吁保留这一年的持有期；周三（10月14日），内阁将对该草案进行审议。但这并不意味着法律即刻生效：此后还需由联邦参议院和联邦议院共同决定。

目前公开的所有反馈意见指向同一个方向：期限过短，时间表对银行和交易所而言不可行，且草案中的一条规则恰好打击了那些出售平台无法获取购买数据的投资者。波茨坦税务顾问马蒂亚斯·施特格（Matthias Steger）在提交给财政部的材料中进行了详细计算：在他的示例中，预扣税额超过了实际应纳税额“十倍之多”。

加密税务咨询于10月6日截止：新税制仅给予六天时间

The Ministry of Finance sent a letter to each association on September 30, 2026 to send the draft, which was announced on its website on the same day. According to the content of the letter quoted from the encryption industry media, the deadline for soliciting opinions is October 6, and the cabinet's time to read the draft is scheduled for October 14. There are only six calendar days from the date of the letter to the deadline, including a weekend, and Saturday is German Unification Day.

Critics from different camps have questioned the pace. The German Federation of Tax Advisers said its report stated that the window of "only four full working days" was "too short." The German Banking Council, as the umbrella organization of the Banking Association, believes that "less than a week is not enough to introduce new taxation procedures" and that this is "insufficient." Frank Schaeffler, the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) politician who disclosed the details of the September 30 letter, also pointed out the six-day problem on Platform X.

For private investors, this short period is not just a procedural footnote. The feedback is the last opportunity to change the text before the cabinet adopts it. After that, the draft will become a government bill, and amendments can only be made through the parliamentary process.

Withholding tax up to ten times: meaning of alternative authorized collection in the draft

The draft moves the income from so-called "exchange crypto assets" such as Bitcoin and Ethereum from Article 23 to Article 20 of the German Income Tax Law, that is, to include it in the category of investment income. Starting January 1, 2028, the sale platform will directly withhold taxes just as banks handle stocks today: a 25% capital gains tax plus a solidarity surcharge. To do this, the platform must know your buying time and price.

When the platform cannot obtain this information, the fallback rule will apply. If the paying agent does not know either the purchase date or the cost, and cannot rely on the information you provide, the draft stipulates that "the purchase should be assumed to occur after December 31, 2026" and that "withholding taxes should be assessed at 50% of the proceeds." For securities, the current alternative approval base ratio is 30%. Steger pointed out that the explanatory memorandum did not explain why the tax rate was higher.

His working example is as follows: You sell Bitcoin for 40,000 euros, and the buy price is 38,000 euros, so the gain is 2,000 euros. Based on actual gains, the withholding tax should be € 527.50. Under alternative approval, the platform will record a revenue of 20,000 euros and withhold 5,275 euros. "The amount withheld exceeds ten times the tax payable; the difference is only refunded after assessment (in accordance with Section 32d (4) of the Income Tax Act)," Steger wrote in an October 5 filing. The money will not be refunded until a tax assessment notice arrives several months later.

This rule has the greatest impact on long-term holdings of coins. If you buy Bitcoin in 2021, it will be tax-free under current laws or draft laws. But if the selling platform lacks purchase data, it will still treat the coin as obtained after 2026 and withhold tax, which you will later have to recover through a tax return. As a result, Steger claims that "legacy positions" are the core fact of the new system, and without data, neither providers nor tax authorities can verify this.

Regardless of the final fate of the bill, one conclusion remains unchanged: Make sure your purchased data is safe. Export the transaction history of all exchanges while the account exists, and record transfers between wallets and their dates. The current draft does not explicitly require you to pass acquisition data when switching providers. Software that integrates data from multiple exchanges can be found in our crypto tax tools and portfolio trackers comparison. For more about alternative authorized collection, please refer to our article on "Half price tax without purchase record".

What banks, Bitcoin associations and tax advisers want the Ministry of Finance to do

According to reports, the German Banking Council believed in its submission that the technology to implement withholding tax can only be implemented as early as January 1, 2029, one year later than the time specified in the draft. It also noted that long-term investors who are exempt today as the holding period ends will face a permanent tax on new positions.

In a filing on October 3, the German Bitcoin Bundesverband requested that "a one-year holding period for bitcoins held directly in private assets be retained." Its core argument is self-custody:"Self-custody is a structural feature of Bitcoin." Anyone who buys coins on one exchange, holds them personally for several years, and then sells them on another exchange will not leave purchase data to the selling platform. As a result, the association wants to establish unified, transferable acquisition data before mandatory withholding, and said: "Private keys or mnemonics cannot be required as tax evidence." If you hold coins yourself, please refer to our Hardware Wallet Comparison article to find out the right device.

Steger's suggestion is the most radical. He suggested retaining Article 23 of the Income Tax Law and first evaluating the reporting data collected by cryptocurrency exchanges in accordance with the EU DAC8 Directive starting from the 2026 reporting year: "Measure first, decide later." If lawmakers insist on system changes, his proposal would reduce the substitute authorized levy to 30%. The fund association BVI hopes that the law will take into account the exemption clauses in the EU MiCA crypto regulation when defining exchange crypto assets.

October 12 Petition Committee: Government must respond in public

Two days before the cabinet meeting, the issue of holding periods was placed on the agenda of the Bundestag. The Petitions Committee will hold a public debate on petition 201716 at 12 noon on Monday (October 12), which calls for retaining a one-year holding period and has collected 44,439 co-signatures. According to the committee's announcement, federal government representatives will attend members to ask questions. Anyone who wants to be seated on site must register before 12 noon on Friday (October 9); others can watch the meeting live. Please refer to our article on the October 12 petition committee for the process and venue.

Cabinet on October 14: Effectiveness boundaries of a decision

If the Cabinet passes the draft on October 14, it will become a government bill. Under Article 76 of the German Constitution, the Bundestag usually has six weeks to express its opinion, after which the Bundestag will hold three rounds of debate. Legal status changes only when both houses agree and enact the law in the Federal Law Gazette. Prior to this, the one-year holding period under Article 23 of the Income Tax Law remained unchanged.

The draft stipulates that the law will take effect on January 1, 2027. From the cabinet date, there are about eleven weeks left in the entire parliamentary process. According to the draft, December 31, 2026 is a key date for determining which positions will retain the holding period: any assets acquired or received before this date will remain tax-exempt after being held for one year. Our article on the "Legacy Position Grandfather Clause" explains why this day became the deadline, while the article on "Draft before submission to Cabinet" outlines its key points.

Crypto Holding Period: Summary of Key Points

Keep in mind dates: October 12 Petition Committee, October 14 Cabinet. The Cabinet decision has not yet become law and the holding period remains unchanged until the law is promulgated.

Ensure your purchase data now: If no acquisition data is available, the platform will book half of the proceeds starting in 2028. Export the history of all exchanges and record transfers between wallets.

Isolate legacy positions: According to the draft, all acquired before December 31, 2026 will be retained for a one-year holding period. Record which coins fall into this category, especially if you move assets between exchanges and your own wallet.

Don't buy intuitively: Acquisitions made solely due to deadline are still an investment decision with price risk, and tax rules cannot eliminate this risk.