Crypto currencies and taxes in Germany – update about holding and staking

Update from 08.05.2023: We updated the part about lock-up periods according to the latest BMF letter. See section 2 – staking.

Dear Radixradar Community,

the sharp rise in cryptocurrencies is increasingly leading to rapidly increasing profits and growing wallets. However, the tax aspects must always be considered, otherwise the profits would have to be quickly transferred to the state in large proportions.
In the following I will give you essential information about the taxation of crypto currencies briefly and concisely (! No tax advice here and not conclusive). Always send requests and comments to me. Greetings Robert

1. Holding


The tax calculation

Cryptocurrencies are in accordance with Section 23 of the Income Tax Act (EstG) to be classified as private sales transactions (OVG). It is therefore another economic good. In contrast to the so-called investment income (interest, shares, ETF, etc.), the personal tax rate (marginal tax rate) is relevant for cryptocurrencies and not the normal 25% of the investment income tax.

Calculation of the personal tax rate and marginal tax rate: Link to the calculator
For example, starting from 57.919 Euro p.a. (Update 2023 62.810 Euro) brutto income each additional Euro is taxed with 42 percent marginal tax rate.

  • Crypto lending / staking – Lend cryptocurrency: see attached video from 12:37 min
  • Crypto mining : see attached video from 15:22 min

When do I have to pay taxes?

Profits are generally tax-free after a 1 year holding period. (Example 1)
Profits of up to 600 euros per year are also tax-free 1 as with gold. (Example 2)
If the exemption limit is exceeded, the total profit is taxed at the personal marginal tax rate. This means that from 601 euros, 601 euros are taxed. (Example 3)

Tip: Document times. When was the cryptocurrency purchased and when it was sold (for inquiries from the tax office).

1 Attention: do not confuse this with the tax exemption for investment income (e.g. shares) of 801 euros per person – everything from 802 euros is taxed at 25 percent .

Examples

eRDXPurchase datePurchase price (€)Date of saleSelling Price (€)Gross profit (€)Taxes (€)
1)10.00001.04.20210,1002.04.20220,2010000
2)10.00001.04.20210,1031.12.20210,166000
3)10.00001.04.20210,1031.12.20210,201000420

Conclusion and strategy in holding

  • Hold cryptocurrencies for more than a year
  • If the sale is necessary beforehand, then the profit should not exceed 600 euros
  • Lending, staking and mining require special attention
  • Documentation is very important (First-In-First-Out (FIFO))

Further information on 1. hold

Explained well and simply by financial flow
0:00Introduction 1:23When do I have to pay taxes on Bitcoin as an individual? 2:34 Similar to gold for taxation? 3:00 Where do I have to declare Bitcoin profits in the tax return? 5:29 What is the 10 year period about? 7:55 How do I prove to the tax office that my 1-year period has expired? 8:37 Is there an exemption for Bitcoin? 9:29Other “Other Assets” 10:07Will Bitcoin tax laws change? 11:20 Are the tax regulations in Germany attractive? 12:37Crypto Lending – Lending Cryptocurrency 15:22Taxes on Crypto Mining 17:37Can I claim Bitcoin losses for tax purposes? 19:37 Giving away and bequeathing bitcoins 22:27 End

2. beams

In June 2021, the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) published a draft letter on the taxation of cryptocurrencies. This has brought a bit more clarity to the taxation at proof-of-stake.

Important: This is only a draft and has not yet become law. However, it is expected to be adopted similar to the draft.

Update: There is acc. the BMF a view that a Staking/Lending does not lead to the “infection” of the existing Stake.
“For individuals, the sale of purchased Bitcoin and Ether is tax-free after one year. The time limit does not extend to ten years even if, for example, Bitcoin was previously used for Lending or the taxpayers provided, for example, Ether to another for their block creation as a Stake.”

Rewards at Stakern

Gem. According to the BMF letter, the receipt of cryptocurrencies by way of proof of stake leads to taxable income from other services. according to § 22 No. 3 EStG, provided there is no commercial activity. This concerns both the staker who validates himself and the staker who puts his coin into a lock.

Thus, the entries in Lending or Staken are treated as other income and not as income from capital gains. I.e. not 25% on profit, but the personal tax rate is to be applied (see above at 1st holding),

Sale of the staking reward

The BMF goes one step further in the case of mining/lending or staking, which means that the units of a virtual currency acquired are considered to be “acquired” (exchange-like transaction). A subsequent sale of the Staking Reward within the speculation period of Sec. 23 EStG would therefore in principle be taxable.
Note: All rewards are taxable over 256 Euro/year

Holding period 10 years (update BMF not for private individuals)

Basically, the following applies: The increase of the holding period of the cryptocurrency results from Section 23 I No. 2 Sentence 4 EStG. Accordingly, the divestment period is extended from one year to 10 years if income is generated from the source of income in at least one calendar year.

This applies to private individuals in accordance with the letter of the BMF dated 11.05.2022 no longer. After this, the holding period is no longer increased (no “infection by staking”)

Note: Increase the holding period of Crypto from 1 to 10 years (even if one year has already passed).
Update: This applies acc. BMF not for private individuals
Tip: Document when which coin was acquired so that proof can be provided later to the tax office and tax-free partial sales can be made if necessary.

Holding period for rewards/”dividends”?

Depending on how the rewards are handled, the holding period increases again to 10 years if they are used again in staking. Otherwise, this is then to be treated as for “holding” and thus 1 year holding period.
Update: This does not apply to private individuals (see above).

Are the rewards taxable?

Gem. the above-mentioned draft, profits from lending/staking are to be treated as other income for tax purposes. This means that they are entered in the tax return in the SO annex and are taxed like income at the personal tax rate.

Conclusion and essential information:

  • In case of piling, the holding period increases to 10 years (exception, no profit intentions [ohne Rewards])
    • Update: BMF letter dated 11.05.2022: not for private individuals (see above). Here only one year holding period
  • Any profit (rewards/generated coins) if more than 256 euros/year is taxable.
  • Documentation of the profit is important, because on the one hand it has to be declared in the tax return and on the other hand in case of later sale of the coins the profit or loss will be referred to it.
  • Before the start of stacking (after one year holding period) sometimes it makes sense to sell and buy again, if the price has risen and consequently taxes are saved


More info about 2. staking

0:00 Introduction & Intro 1:39 The BMF letter 4:24 Taxation of capital gains 8:54 Consideration of types of income 10:41 Documentation of purchases & sales 13:17 Losses can be offset 14:43 Valuation & taxation of mining 17:25 Taxation of lending & staking 20:45 ICO 12:24 Information in the tax return 22:07 Conclusion & Contact.

Questions from the community

  • How rewards are taxed when distributed
    • The profit (inflow) is put on your annual income tax return with your personal tax rate (see above at 1. Hold).
      • Documentation of the distribution with the respective rate is important here! (Practically difficult)
  • Does the holding period for Staking extend if the holding period of one year prior to Staking has already been exceeded?
    • According to the BMF, the 10-year period starts from the beginning of the acquisition. I.e. bought in 2019, start staking in 2021, end holding period in 2029
    • Other views, but not yet confirmed by the courts: After one year, staking is tax-free
  • How will rewards be taxed if profits are taken later? Which holding period applies here
    • Gem. BMF currently yes (but still controversial). Here, the day of distribution is then considered by the Stake in relation to the sale. Should the reward be clocked again, then the holding period is also 10 years, otherwise only one year
  • How can I avoid the holding period or taxed on Cryptos through other structures abroad?
    • For this I’ll soon write a new article

Instructions for staking Radix (XRD)

Post was updated on November 14 2021.

Each of you have a different level of knowledge about staking.
So we have written a small guide on how to stake in the future to receive rewards.

For the German speakers among us we additionally have uploaded a video that shows of all of this in detail. If you prefer reading or can’t speak German, keep reading below.

Guide

What does staking actually mean?

In short means Staking To stake cryptocurrencies to get rewards.
Here you will find a detailed explanation.

How can you earn more Radix by using your Radix coins?

Step 1: Buy Radix

So far you can only buy eXRD (the Radix ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockhain). You can get eXRD via decentralized trading platforms (DEX) like uniswap. In addition, some central platforms (CEX) such as Bitfinex , Gate or KuCoin let you trade and buy Radix as well. You can find further options here.

Step 2: Convert eXRD to XRD

In order to be able to stake it, the eXRD must first be converted into the native XRD (Radix) tokens. In the future, this will be possible directly on Bitfinex, among other platforms. Until then, you can use Radix’s own instabridge platform to exchange eXRD for XRD.

To be able to exchange your eXRD on instabridge, you have to register with instapass.io and complete the KYC (know your customer, i.e. identity check) process there. Then you have to register both the address of your Ethereum wallet, which contains the eXRD, and your Radix wallet address. For the former, you can either use your Ethereum wallet via Metamask, or you can use WalletConnect.

When converting you transfer your eXRD to the instabridge account. After a delay, the same amount will be transferred in XRD, the native Radix token, to your registered Radix address. Usually this should happen in a few minutes. You can see the status of the conversion on instabridge.io. In some cases the transfer can take longer. But don’t worry, you’ll get your XRD eventually!

Radix wallet

If you don’t have a Radix Wallet yet, you can go here to download the application for Windows, OSX and Linux.
There you can then create a new address or import an existing one using the seed phrase. You can find detailed instructions for setting up the wallet on the Radix website .

Step 3: Stake Radix (XRD)

Open the wallet and click on “Stake & Unstake” in the menu on the left.

The staking view then looks like this.

There is currently no view in which you can directly select a validator (also called staking pool).
You have to enter or copy the address directly where you want to stake.

In the Radix Explorer you can view the list of registered validators and then copy the addresses of the validators you want to stake with. Our address, for example, is the following.

    rv1qw6m5nrwnjx2estgkv8zsvp77es6yea0p99zkregud6dqad8q5wg7yvr4na

More on the topic of how to pick a validator (or staking pool, more information also here ) at the bottom of the page.

Now you enter the address of the validator (or validators) of your choice and set the desired amount of XRD (Radix) before you stake them. On the right side you can see your current stakes.

Important: Make sure not to stake all of your XRD as you will still need some XRD (between 0.5 and 1) to pay for the unstaking transaction later should you want to unstake.

Rewards

Depending on the size of the stake, you will receive rewards for each epoch. How exactly these are calculated can be found on the official Radix website here. Here is a quick summary:

Every year around 300 million XRD of network emissions are generated by the Radix network.
This is an incentive for XRD token holders to stake their tokens for the proof of stake mechanism in order to secure the network.

This means that these 300 million XRD are paid out proportionally to all those who stake XRD, depending on how large their share of the total stake in the network is.

Let’s assume all owners together staked (as described above) 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) XRD.
Let’s also assume that you staked 1000 XRD yourself. Then that’s 0.0001% of the total stake in the network. Let us also assume for the sake of illustration that the situation does not change for a year, i.e. no one adds or removes new stakes.

Then after one year you will have received 0.0001% of the emissions (the 300 million).
0.0001% of 300 million are 300 XRD . That corresponds to an APY 1 of 30% .

The real amount will be a little smaller, however, since the delegators charge a fee for the operation of their servers. You can see the respective fee for a validator in the e xplorer before you choose one. You have to weigh up yourself what you think is a fair value.

Let’s say your chosen validator takes a 2% fee. Then that’s 2% of your 300 XRD. So 6 XRD.
That means you only get 294 XRD, so 29.4% APY.

Exactly how high these numbers are varies with the amount of stake in the network and with how large your share of it is. In the future the current exact value will be displayed here on our home page.

The rewards are generated proportionally for each epoch. That means if you didn’t join the staking straight away, that’s by and large not a problem. An epoch consists of around 10,000 “consensus rounds”, which corresponds to around 30 to 90 minutes, depending on the activity in the network.

Risk

When staking you cannot lose any XRD. They are only reserved for staking and can be released again at any time (see below).

The only thing you can lose is potential rewards.
If selected validators do not work reliably, e.g. because their servers fail, then a penalty is applied to their generated rewards. That would then reduce your profit beyond the fees mentioned above. It is therefore important to choose validators who you trust will be permanently available.

We ourselves staked the majority of our XRD with ourselves instead of with other validators.
In other words, if we perform poorly, we will also be punished directly because we receive fewer emissions.

On the one hand, this should show that we are convinced of ourselves and, on the other hand, it is a good additional motivation to keep our servers as reliable as possible.

1 annual percentage yield, ie annual interest rate

Unstaking

One more word about unstaking.
If you want your stake back, you have to request a reduction in your stake via the wallet.

Important : It can take 1 to 3 weeks (500 epochs) until the removed part of your stake is actually available again.

Selection of validators and further information

You can find more information about staking, unstaking, and what validators actually are on the Radix website.

We want to briefly explain to you how you can best select the validators for which you want to use your XRD (Radix). In short, you should pay attention to the following points.

  • 5×5 rule: Split your stake over at least 5 validators, each with a maximum of 5% of the global stake.
    • You can see the size of the percentage in the explorer.
  • Choose validators with a good geographical distribution. Some in Europe, America, Asia etc.
  • Choose validators who make a professional and reliable impression.
  • Don’t just vote for the top representatives. It is important to distribute the stakes well. If everyone just sticks to the biggest validators, it endangers the security of the network and can also slow it down.

We hope this short guide has helped you a little.

RadixRadar started as a validator!

Dear Community,

We are happy to announce that the betanet has now started and that we can take part as a validator. Soon you can stake your radix with us!

The information on staking has not yet been released. As soon as the information arrives, we will tell you how it works!

Here’s what we know:

Betanet Radix Desktop Wallet
You can download the wallet for your desktop here and you can find a guide here.

Betanet Radix Explorer
In the Explorer you can get information about individual addresses and transactions. More information is available in the User Guide .

Betanet Radix Node
The experts among you who want to open your own node (server) find more info here.

More about the launch of the betanet on the official site