- A draft bill would end Germany’s exemption that lets crypto held more than 12 months be sold tax-free.
- Coins purchased after December 31, 2026 would instead face a flat 25% tax on any gain, regardless of how long they’re held.
- The proposal still needs parliamentary approval before it can take effect.
Germany has been one of the more generous jurisdictions for long-term bitcoin holders: sell after a year and the gain is tax-free, full stop. A new draft bill would end that for anything bought from the start of 2027 onward, replacing the holding-period exemption with a flat 25% tax on gains no matter how long the coins sit.
The change would not touch anything already purchased before the December 31, 2026 cutoff, which gives current holders a window to plan around rather than a retroactive hit. That distinction matters: it’s a forward-looking policy shift, not a clawback, and it puts Germany’s treatment of crypto gains closer in line with how it taxes gains on securities held in a normal brokerage account.
What happens next depends on parliament, and a proposal at this stage is not law. But the direction is notable coming from a country whose tax-free rule was, until now, one of the more investor-friendly features anywhere in the EU for long-term holders, and its removal would strip away a real incentive to buy and hold rather than trade.
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