Who reports what, since 2026
The EU's eighth directive on administrative cooperation, DAC8, applies from 1 January 2026. Every crypto-asset service provider serving EU customers, including those authorised under MiCA and those established outside the EU, must identify its users, record their transactions and report them yearly to the tax authority of the country where the provider is established, which forwards the data to the user's country of residence. The first reports, covering 2026, arrive with tax authorities in 2027. The practical effect is that crypto income is now as visible to your tax office as bank interest, and the question is no longer whether to declare but how.
What counts as a taxable event
The answer differs by country, but a pattern holds. Selling crypto for euros is a disposal everywhere. Spending crypto on goods is a disposal everywhere. Swapping one coin for another is a disposal in Germany and Finland and in most countries, but not in France, which taxes only when you exit to fiat or spend. Staking and lending rewards are income at the value received, in most countries. Simply holding is not taxed except in the Netherlands, where holding is precisely what is taxed.
Netherlands
Crypto is an asset in box 3. You declare its value on 1 January together with savings and investments, and tax is levied on a deemed return on the net total above the tax-free allowance, at a flat rate. Actual gains and losses during the year do not matter; a coin that doubled and one that halved are taxed the same if they are worth the same on 1 January. Swapping coins is therefore irrelevant. A reform to tax actual returns is planned; until it takes effect, the rule is the value on the first of the year.
France
Private investors are taxed only when they convert crypto to a currency or use it to buy goods or services, and only if total disposals in the year exceed €305. The gain is taxed at the flat rate of 30 percent, or at the progressive scale by election. Crypto-to-crypto swaps are not taxable, which lets a portfolio be rebalanced without tax. The gain is calculated on the portfolio as a whole using a formula that apportions the total acquisition cost to each disposal, which requires records of every purchase. Accounts held on foreign platforms must be declared separately each year.
Germany
Crypto is a private asset. Gains on coins held for more than one year are tax-free. Gains on coins held for a year or less are taxed at your personal income-tax rate, but only if your total private sale gains in the year, from crypto and other private assets, exceed €1,000; below that nothing is due, above it the whole amount is. Swaps are disposals that restart the clock for the new coin. Staking and lending income is taxed as other income with its own small allowance, and coins used for staking keep the one-year rule.
Finland
Gains on crypto are capital income, taxed at 30 percent up to €30,000 a year and 34 percent above. Every disposal counts, including a swap from one coin to another and a purchase paid in crypto, with the gain computed as sale value minus acquisition cost or, if higher, minus a deemed acquisition cost of 20 percent of the sale price, or 40 percent if held ten years. Losses are deductible from capital gains and, since 2016, from other capital income. Staking rewards are income at the value received. Small disposals are exempt if total sale prices in the year stay under €1,000.
Records
Every system above needs the acquisition cost of what you sold, and DAC8 reports transactions, not costs. Export the full history from every platform yearly, including swaps, fees and transfers to your own wallets, and keep it. Portfolio-tracking tools can compute gains by your country's method from those exports; the tax office will accept a consistent method and reject a missing one.
What this guide is not
General information. Thresholds, rates and allowances change yearly, and edge cases, such as mining, airdrops, DeFi and moving country mid-year, are treated differently again. For anything beyond buying, holding and selling, or for large amounts, the national tax authority's own guidance and a tax adviser are the sources to use.
