For tax purposes, cryptos are treated differently from stocks. If you sell them at a gain within one year of buying, that is a : the gain is taxed at your personal income tax rate. If more than one year lies between buying and selling, the gain is tax-free. Swapping into another coin also counts as a sale.
The exemption limit
Private sale gains in a year stay tax-free if together they are less than €1,000. This is an , not an allowance: at €999 you pay nothing, at €1,000 the whole amount is taxable. For married couples it applies to each person separately.
Do the math
Gain of €1,500 after eight months, no other private sale transactions, tax rate 30%: taxable €1,500, tax €450 (without solidarity surcharge and church tax). The same €1,500 after 13 months: tax-free. Losses from such transactions can only be offset against gains of the same kind.
What to keep a record of
For every purchase, sale and swap: date, quantity, price in euros and fees. With several purchases at different prices you need a fixed order, usually “first in, first out”. A or the exchange’s export helps with this.
Staking, lending and reporting
Income from staking or lending counts as other income when received (Section 22 No. 3 of the German Income Tax Act); a separate exemption limit of €256 a year applies. This does not extend the holding period of the coins to ten years; it stays at one year. Since 2026, crypto providers in the EU record their customers’ transactions and report them to the tax authorities (DAC8).