Germany's Crypto Holding Period Faces Abolition: What Petition 201716 and the Cabinet Decision Mean for Your Tax

Since August 4, 2026, a submission has been open for signature on the German Bundestag's petition portal that bears directly on private crypto investors. Petition 201716 calls for the one-year holding period for crypto assets under Section 23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) to be kept in place. The quorum of 30,000 signatures was passed within a few days; on August 8, 2026 the portal showed 38,286 online signatures. The deadline runs until September 15, 2026.

The trigger is a decision taken by the federal cabinet on July 6, 2026 on the draft budget for 2027. Under it, crypto assets held as private wealth would in future be assigned to income from capital assets, and the tax exemption after twelve months of holding would fall away.

What the one-year crypto holding period under Section 23 EStG means today

Under the current view of the tax authorities and the case law of the fiscal courts, crypto assets count as “other assets”, so sales fall under the private disposal transactions of Section 23 of the Income Tax Act. Taxable there, under subsection 1 sentence 1 number 2, are transactions “in which the period between acquisition and disposal is not more than one year”. The familiar rule follows by implication: after more than twelve months of holding, the gain stays tax-free.

Sell earlier and the gain is charged at your personal income tax rate, plus the solidarity surcharge and, where applicable, church tax. Depending on your other income, that rate sits between zero and 45 percent. An important secondary rule appears in Section 23 subsection 3 sentence 5: gains stay tax-free if the total gain from private disposal transactions in the calendar year came to less than 1,000 euros. The threshold is often quoted as 600 euros, which reflects the position that applied up to and including 2023. What counts is the current statutory text, which you can read in Section 23 EStG at gesetze-im-internet.de.

This is an exemption limit rather than an allowance. At a total gain of 999 euros the amount stays entirely tax-free; at 1,000 euros it becomes taxable in full, and not merely for the portion above the line. Which unit was acquired when is something the tax authorities routinely allocate on a first-in, first-out basis. We have set out those basics in our explainer on the holding period for cryptocurrencies.

Cabinet decision of July 6, 2026: crypto gains are to become investment income

On July 6, 2026 the federal cabinet adopted the draft federal budget for 2027. Part of that draft is the intention to assign crypto assets held as private wealth to income from capital assets. Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil had already announced a change to crypto taxation at the end of April and is quoted as saying that crypto gains should in future be taxed in the same way as investment income.

In fiscal terms the plan is a consolidation measure. Following the reporting on the cabinet draft, the Federal Ministry of Finance puts the contribution from tackling tax crime together with crypto taxation from 2027 at around one billion euros; in April the figure under discussion was still around two billion euros. The sums therefore do not relate to crypto assets alone.

One point is decisive for placing this in context. A draft budget quantifies expected revenue and states intentions, yet it amends no tax law. As long as Section 23 EStG applies in its present form, the one-year holding period applies.

Withholding tax instead of tax exemption: the crypto tax rate under discussion

Two figures are circulating in the reporting. The one cited most often is a rate of 26.375 percent, made up of 25 percent withholding tax plus the solidarity surcharge. Add church tax and the burden comes to roughly 28 percent, depending on the federal state. Neither figure has been officially confirmed so far, because the relevant statutory text does not yet exist. We therefore present them as a range and not as a settled quantity.

For investors on a high personal tax rate, the switch would not be a disadvantage in every constellation. Anyone selling within the one-year period on a marginal rate of 42 percent pays more today than 26.375 percent. The deterioration falls above all on those who hold positions for longer than twelve months and have so far been able to sell free of tax. That group is the one behind the petition. Two further questions remain open: whether the 1,000 euro saver's allowance would apply, and how losses would be offset in future. Both follow only from the statutory text.

Petition 201716 in the Bundestag: 38,286 signatures against a quorum of 30,000

The petition carries identification number 201716, is assigned to the income tax subject area and shows May 30, 2026 as its creation date. Its status reads “open for signature”, and it went live on August 4, 2026.

The text of the petition calls for the tax holding period for private disposal transactions in crypto assets under Section 23 EStG to be preserved; in particular, the one-year period after which gains are tax-free should not be abolished. The submission also asks that the classification of crypto assets as “other assets”, in line with the current administrative view and case law, be retained. The petitioners cite legal certainty, protection of legitimate expectations and private wealth formation as their grounds.

On August 8, 2026 the portal showed 38,286 online signatures and an entry of “Yes” in the “quorum reached” field. By its own account the campaign is carried by the initiative prohaltefrist.de, behind which stands an alliance from the German bitcoin scene around the Bitcoin Bundesverband. You will find the full text and the current count in Petition 201716 on the Bundestag portal.

Signature deadline September 15, 2026: how to sign the crypto tax petition

You can sign until September 15, 2026. That requires a one-time registration on the Bundestag's petition portal, where your name and address are stored; the petition can then be supported through the corresponding button. The right of petition under Article 17 of the Basic Law is open to everyone, and participation is possible regardless of nationality and place of residence.

According to the portal's guidance, the committee checks whether the quorum has been reached at regular intervals rather than after each individual signature. Further signatures are counted until the deadline expires. Where the quorum has been reached, a public hearing in the Petitions Committee is normally provided for, which is a hearing format and not a vote on legislation.

Grandfathering for existing holdings: the decisive open question

For investors with older holdings, the financial impact hangs on a question that has gone unanswered so far. Would there be grandfathering for crypto assets acquired before a change in the law? The reporting on the cabinet decision expressly notes that this point is unresolved; neither the draft budget nor the accompanying statements commit either way.

What follows from that is an observation rather than a recommendation. Anyone who sells holdings as a precaution ahead of a possible cut-off date is deciding without knowing the future legal position, and may trigger a tax liability that would not have arisen on holding. Editorial assessment: as long as no ministerial draft exists, the economically right moment for a sale cannot be determined credibly. Individual tax questions belong in the hands of a tax adviser.

From cabinet decision to law: the hurdles still ahead in the Bundestag and Bundesrat

The road from a draft budget to changed taxation is still largely untravelled. So far there is no ministerial draft from the Federal Ministry of Finance, meaning the first fully formulated text with concrete provisions. Without it there is neither a legally reviewable wording nor a consultation of the associations. After that come the government draft, deliberation in the Bundestag and consideration by the Bundesrat. The reporting mentions a first reading in September 2026 and a conclusion in December; those dates have not been officially confirmed.

Politically the outcome is open. A majority would require the support of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, which had rejected a corresponding change in the finance committee beforehand. Whether a compromise will be found is not foreseeable at present, and this text deliberately offers no forecast of the result.

Documenting acquisition data: why your crypto transaction history now matters more

Whatever the outcome of the legislative process, preparation pays off in every scenario: full documentation of your acquisition dates and acquisition costs. If the holding period survives, that is how you prove the tax exemption to the tax office. If it is abolished, you need the data to calculate the disposal gain. Were grandfathering to come, the acquisition date would decide how each individual position is treated.

In practice that means downloading the transaction histories of your trading venues as CSV exports while the accounts are still active, and storing them outside the platform. Record wallet addresses together with what they belong to, and note transfers between your own addresses so that a transfer is not read later as a sale. With several exchanges and wallets, a spreadsheet quickly reaches its limits; a portfolio tracker with a tax report handles the first-in, first-out allocation automatically. Which providers deliver German tax reports is shown in our comparison of crypto tax tools and portfolio trackers.

A second point concerns the data available to the tax authorities. With the implementation of the EU directive DAC8, crypto service providers have been reporting their customers' transaction data to the tax authorities since January 1, 2026, and the first transmission is scheduled for September 2027. The authorities will therefore hold material to compare against what appears in a tax return. If you are sorting through accounts anyway, check the tax reports of your trading venue; our overview of the best crypto brokers lists the providers along with their terms.

Staking, lending and the ten-year period: what the crypto tax reform could mean for income

Alongside disposal gains there are ongoing earnings. Rewards from staking or lending have so far been treated by the tax authorities as other income under Section 22 number 3 EStG, taxable at the moment of receipt at your personal tax rate and with an exemption limit of 256 euros per calendar year. If you later sell the units received, Section 23 EStG with its one-year period applies again to that sale.

The worry keeps surfacing that using holdings as a source of income extends the holding period to ten years. That extension does appear in the statutory text, yet the tax authorities do not apply it to crypto assets following the Federal Ministry of Finance letter of March 6, 2025; the one-year period remains decisive. Were the assignment to capital income to come, how staking rewards are to be classified would have to be settled afresh. The cabinet decision says nothing on the point. Anyone buying regularly through a savings plan should also bear in mind that under first-in, first-out each instalment forms its own position with its own period.

What you should take away

1. Check your acquisition data and close any gaps before the legal position settles. Export the transaction histories of every exchange and wallet and store them away from the platforms. A tool with a German tax report takes the first-in, first-out allocation off your hands; you will find the providers compared in the hub for crypto tax tools and portfolio trackers.
2. Decide by September 15, 2026 whether you sign Petition 201716. Registering on the Bundestag's petition portal takes a few minutes, and the deadline is fixed. If you are going through your trading venues anyway, check their tax reports against the terms in the broker comparison.
3. Do not take a decision to sell on the strength of the cabinet decision alone. Without a ministerial draft, neither the cut-off date nor any possible grandfathering is known. If you want to keep building a position, you will find the terms for regular purchases in the comparison for bitcoin savings plans; for anything to do with tax in an individual case, a tax adviser is the right port of call.

(As of August 8, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)