Crypto gains to lose one-year tax-free window, BStBK warns

Private crypto gains are set to lose their one-year route to tax freedom. The Federal Ministry of Finance plans to classify running income from crypto assets and gains on their disposal as income from capital, ending the exemption that applies once the one-year speculation period expires for newly acquired crypto. The Bundessteuerberaterkammer (BStBK), speaking for Germany's almost 106,000 tax advisers, says such a systemic change needs prior impact assessment and careful preparation — which it finds missing.

Only domestic platforms would operate the planned withholding tax; foreign platforms, private wallets and decentralised trading would stay largely outside it. That could disadvantage German providers and shift trading abroad, leaving enforcement gains doubtful. The draft needs work: the category of “Tauschkryptowerte” lacks a legally certain definition, since an acceptance-as-medium-of-exchange test is too vague, and treating every swap or payment with crypto as a taxable disposal would force costly valuations for small everyday purchases. The chamber proposes examining the Austrian model, which triggers no immediate gain on swaps, or at least a de minimis threshold.

The chamber welcomes that the switch would cover only crypto acquired from 31 December 2026. But losses already established under section 23 of the Income Tax Act could then no longer be set against gains taxed under section 20Bstbk, devaluing existing loss carryforwards; the transition should follow the flat-rate-tax precedent and keep documenting old holdings workable. With first transparency reports for 2026 arriving in 2027Bstbk, the chamber urges evaluating that data and weighing extra revenue against costs first.

Chamber president Hartmut Schwab separately defends voluntary disclosure against the finance and justice ministries' action planBstbk, which would end its shielding effectBstbk. Disclosure is no free pass: it demands timely, complete revelation plus payment with interest, is barred once matters are discovered, and carries extra burdens in serious cases. Since taxpayers must correct detected errors yet cannot be forced to incriminate themselves, abolition without an equivalent safeguard would unsettle businesses and advisers.

On inheritance tax, vice-president Boris Kurczinski represented the profession at the Federal Constitutional Court's 12 October hearingBstbk on Bavaria's bid to move valuation, allowances and rates to the Länder. The chamber rejects regionalisation as a source of complexity and demarcation disputes, seeking simpler, federally uniform rules that keep business-asset relief and succession planning certainty.

Ahead of finance-committee hearings on the Annual Tax Act 2026 and the Income Tax Reform Act 2027, the chamber backs the VAT-group reform but demands a workable declaration solution, criticises AI use in the administration, wants cold progression fully offset, and notes outstanding corporate-option and retention-relief improvements. Its 7 October statement on the seventh Administrative Court Rules amendment (BT-Drs. 21/7824) welcomes modernised Finance Court Rules but demands a further admission ground where a judgment's legality is doubtful, softer pleading duties and fuller reasoning. Its 5 November statement welcomes the EU tax omnibus on withholding tax, interest barrier, CFC rules and restructurings, but wants the relief to apply markedly earlier than the Commission envisagesBstbk, with swift adoption despite unanimity.

The labour ministry's 22 September 2026 approval of the joint principles for the social-insurance authorisation database lets advisers file payroll powers centrally and electronicallyBstbk; the chamber will run it. Young academics can apply for the 3,000-euro international-tax prizeBstbk with IFA Montreal 2028 participation until 31 December 2026; awarded 31 May 2027 in Berlin.

The positions concern sections 20 and 23 of the Income Tax Act, section 371 of the Fiscal Code, sections 115 and 116 of the Finance Court Rules, the seventh Administrative Court Rules Amendment Act, the EU tax-omnibus proposal and the Crypto-Assets Tax Transparency Act.