German Crypto Tax Deadline Looms: Midnight Tonight for Mandatory Filers

The deadline for filing German income tax returns for 2025 is tonight, July 31st. For mandatory filers, this means submitting their return by midnight to avoid penalties.

For crypto investors, there are a few key things to consider when filing their tax return. In Germany, coins are treated as 'other assets' under the income tax law (EStG), which means that gains from selling cryptocurrencies after holding them for over 12 months are tax-free.

However, if you sell your cryptocurrency within one year of buying it, any gain is taxed at your personal income tax rate, up to 45%. Additionally, staking or lending cryptocurrency does not extend the holding period, and rewards from mining are also taxable as separate income.

Crypto-to-crypto swaps and trades on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are also considered disposals and must be reported. The German tax office uses a FIFO method to calculate gains per wallet or exchange, and most private crypto activity is recorded in Anlage SO.

This year's return carries some new requirements, including dedicated crypto lines in the Anlage SO form and stricter documentation standards. Handing over a wallet address is no longer considered sufficient evidence, and the tax office expects transaction overviews or proper tax reports showing type, quantity, acquisition and disposal dates, costs, and rates.

With the deadline looming, many filers are turning to dedicated tax tooling like CoinTracking to help them prepare their returns. This software generates a ready-to-file PDF of the Anlage SO form and exports in other formats as well.