How cryptocurrencies are taxed in Germany
In Germany, cryptocurrencies are classified as “other assets” and are taxed under § 23 of the German Income Tax Act (EStG).
This means that profits from trading crypto are considered private sales transactions and are subject to income tax.
Income tax rate for cryptocurrencies
The income tax rate in Germany ranges from 0% to 45%, depending on your personal income. Your crypto gains are added to your total income and taxed accordingly.
Additionally, a solidarity surcharge of up to 5.5% may apply if your income tax liability exceeds €18,130.
You can find more details on the Federal Ministry of Finance website.
Which crypto transactions are taxable
The following actions with cryptocurrencies are taxable:
● Trading one cryptocurrency for another (e.g., ETH → BTC)
● Selling cryptocurrency for euros
● Earning income from staking or lending
These earnings are treated as income and taxed at your personal rate.
If your staking or lending income is below €256 per year, it is tax-free.
Above €256, it becomes fully taxable.
Tax exemption limit for crypto gains
Starting from the 2024 tax year, there is a tax exemption limit of €1,000 (it was €600 for years prior to 2024).
This means that if your total crypto trading gains are below €1,000, they are tax-free.
However, once your gains exceed €1,000, the entire amount becomes taxable, including the first €1,000.
One-year holding period
If you hold your cryptocurrencies for more than one year before selling them, the gains are tax-free.
How to declare your cryptocurrencies in Germany
If you trade or earn income with cryptocurrencies, you need to include this information in your tax return.
In Germany, this is done through different annexes (Anlagen) depending on the type of income. Gains from selling cryptocurrencies
Gains from selling cryptocurrencies must be entered in Anlage SO under “Einheiten virtueller Währungen und / oder sonstige Token.”
Here you must report:
● the total sales prices of all cryptocurrencies you sold,
● and the total purchase prices of the cryptocurrencies that were sold.
This allows the tax office to calculate your taxable gain.
Income from staking or lending
If you earn cryptocurrencies through staking or lending, you must also report this in Anlage SO, under
“Angaben zu Tätigkeiten im Zusammenhang mit Einheiten virtueller Währungen und / oder sonstigen Token.”
Here you declare the total value of your earnings.
It’s important to report the market value of your crypto at the time you received it.
Income from futures trading
If you have made gains or losses from futures trading, these must be declared in Anlage KAP. You must report gains and losses separately.
How to track your MEXC transactions for taxes
To correctly declare your cryptocurrency taxes, you need a complete history of your transactions.
On MEXC, you can easily download this data directly from your account in just a few simple steps.
How to download your transaction history
Go to MEXC Data Export and click “required for tax reporting.”
This option will take you to the page where you can download your transaction history. Once there, you can:
1. Choose the time period and the files you want to download. Each report can cover up to 540 days of data (up to the previous day).
2. Click “Export” to generate the file.
3. If you need data for other time periods, repeat the process.
The downloaded files include all purchases, sales, and transfers made through MEXC. How to use this data for taxes
After downloading the files, you can use them to calculate your tax obligations by using a crypto tax calculator designed specifically for Germany, such as our partner Divly.
Divly helps you to:
● Easily import your data from MEXC,
● calculate your gains and losses,
● and generate a tax report that’s easy to use when declaring your Anlage SO and/or Anlage KAP This way, you can easily manage all your transactions and save time when declaring taxes on your cryptocurrencies traded on MEXC.
Join MEXC and Get up to $10,000 Bonus!
