Bitcoin Bought Before March 2021: Is the Sale Tax-Free in Austria?

Bitcoin Bought Before March 2021: When a Sale in Austria Can Still Be Tax-Free

Anyone who bought Bitcoin before March 2021 may hold a considerable tax advantage in Austria. Gains on newer Bitcoin holdings are generally taxed at 27.5 percent, but older coins fall under transitional rules. The decisive date is February 28, 2021: cryptocurrencies acquired up to that day generally count as legacy holdings. The Austrian crypto tax regime in force since March 2022 does not automatically extend to those coins.

Why Old Bitcoin Can Be Sold Tax-Free in Austria

Before the crypto tax reform, privately held Bitcoin was generally treated under the rules for speculative transactions. A sale was taxable above all where no more than a year had passed between acquisition and disposal. Once that period had elapsed, the sale could generally take place tax-free.

Take an investor who bought Bitcoin in 2020 and has held it unchanged ever since. The one-year speculative period that applied at the time expired long ago. A sale in 2026 can therefore be tax-free in principle, even if the Bitcoin price has multiplied since the purchase.

Example:

Bitcoin purchase in 2020: 10,000 euros
Sale in 2026: 80,000 euros
Increase in value: 70,000 euros

If the coins genuinely still qualify as private legacy holdings and no special rules apply, that gain can remain tax-free in Austria in principle. Had the same Bitcoin been bought after February 28, 2021, the identical increase in value would generally fall under the new crypto tax regime and, as a rule, under the special tax rate of 27.5 percent.

An Intervening Swap Can End Legacy Status

The transaction history is what matters most here. The question is not whether the investor has been “invested in crypto” since 2020, but whether the precise coins being sold today still trace back to a purchase made before March 2021.

Under the old legal framework, swapping Bitcoin for another cryptocurrency also counts as a disposal. Say old Bitcoin was swapped for Ether in 2023. The disposal of the old Bitcoin can still be tax-free, because the speculative period had expired long before. The Ether acquired in that swap, however, dates from 2023 and therefore forms new holdings.

The Austrian finance ministry confirmed as much in 2025 for a comparable token swap: where the speculative period on the legacy holding has already expired, its hidden reserves are not taxed, and the cryptocurrencies received in exchange count as new holdings from that point on.

An old purchase receipt on its own is therefore not enough. Investors have to be able to trace the entire chain through to the coins they hold today.

Legacy and New Holdings in the Same Wallet

Things get complicated when a single wallet holds Bitcoin bought in 2020 alongside coins bought later. The Austrian cryptocurrency ordinance generally allows the holder to choose which units count as sold in a disposal. Where no choice is made, the unit acquired earlier is treated as sold first in case of doubt.

In practice that can make a substantial difference.

An investor holding 0.5 BTC from 2020 and a further 0.5 BTC from 2024 who then sells 0.5 BTC should document which holding is being disposed of. Otherwise the exchange and the investor may reach different conclusions on the tax treatment.

Take Care With Lending and Other Crypto Income

Legacy holdings also become more complicated where the Bitcoin has been used to generate ongoing crypto income.

An investor who used old Bitcoin for lending after February 2022 already falls under the new crypto tax regime as regards the ongoing income earned from it. The cryptocurrencies newly acquired in this way count as new holdings. The fact that the Bitcoin originally deployed is old does not automatically extend legacy status to the lending rewards.

On April 28, 2026 the Federal Finance Court also decided a relevant case on the interest-bearing investment of cryptocurrencies before the new crypto tax law took effect. The court concluded that lending at that time qualified as another service rather than as a classic transfer of capital under section 27(2) of the Austrian Income Tax Act. An official appeal has been lodged against the ruling, so the legal question is not yet finally settled.

For old Bitcoin with a lending history, a blanket claim that legacy holdings are tax-free is therefore inadvisable.

Documentation Becomes the Decisive Factor

Anyone planning to sell a larger legacy holding tax-free in 2026 should be able to show that the Bitcoin in question was acquired on February 28, 2021 at the latest and that no new acquisition has taken place for tax purposes since.

The following records matter in particular:

• purchase statements from the original exchange,
• bank transfers relating to the Bitcoin purchase at the time,
• wallet addresses and blockchain transactions,
• CSV exports from old exchange accounts,
• evidence of wallet-to-wallet transfers,
• earlier crypto-to-crypto swaps,
• documents on lending or other yield models.

Where legacy and new holdings are mixed, investors should also document which Bitcoin was allocated to the sale.

Conclusion

Anyone who bought Bitcoin on February 28, 2021 at the latest and has held it as a private legacy holding can in principle still sell those coins tax-free in Austria in 2026. The new flat-rate taxation of crypto gains at 27.5 percent does not apply automatically to such legacy holdings.

The history is what decides the matter. Swaps made in the meantime can produce newly acquired cryptocurrencies, lending rewards count as new holdings under certain conditions, and with mixed wallets it has to be established which units were actually sold.

Where values have risen sharply, the problem is therefore less today's Bitcoin price than the question of whether the legacy holding can still be documented without gaps after five years or more.

(As of August 11, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)