December 2025 – With the new Crypto Reporting Act ("Krypto-Meldepflichtgesetz" – Krypto-MPfG) effective from 1 January 2026, Austria aligns with international standards for transparency and tax compliance in the digital asset space. This reflects the EU’s broader push for harmonised regulation under DAC8 (the eighth amendment to the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in Direct Taxation, which mandates the automatic exchange of information on crypto-asset transactions between the Member States), the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework ("CARF"), and the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ("MiCAR").
The new legislation implements international standards and sends a clear message: the regulatory net is tightening globally, and anonymity in the crypto-asset space in Austria is history.
Below we outline what this means for your crypto-asset portfolios on foreign exchanges and why you should act now.
The dangerous misconception about foreign crypto exchanges
Since the tax reform of 2022, the rules regarding the taxation of crypto-assets in Austria have been quite clear: Gains from crypto-assets purchased after 28 February 2021 ("New Assets") are taxed as capital income at a special rate of 27.5%, the same as traditional stocks. If you use a MiCAR-licensed crypto-asset service provider ("CASP") established in Austria, e.g., Bitpanda, Bybit EU, or KuCoin EU, they automatically deduct this tax on your behalf.
However, many investors fall into a common trap: they use foreign crypto exchanges that are not established in Austria (e.g., Binance, Kraken, or Coinbase) and do not automatically deduct the aforementioned tax for Austrian tax residents. This leads many to the dangerous misconception that these gains are not subject to taxation in Austria or are simply "invisible" to the Austrian tax authorities.
This is a fatal error. Failing to declare these crypto-asset gains in your annual income tax return constitutes tax evasion pursuant to the Austrian Fiscal Criminal Code ("Finanzstrafgesetz"), and due to the new legislation, this is about to become impossible to hide.
Why there are no more loopholes
The new legislation effectively closes each traditional loophole to avoid taxation on gains from crypto-assets in Austria. Here is why you cannot bypass this:
- Global reach: The Crypto Reporting Act implements the EU Directive DAC8 and the OECD’s CARF standard. This means Austria will receive data not just from local providers, but automatically from all EU member states and over 40 non-EU countries.
- Broad definition: The law doesn't just target licensed CASPs in the EU, but also other crypto-asset providers that offer the service of exchanging reportable crypto-assets to other reportable crypto-assets or fiat currencies.
- The “off-ramp reality”: Even if you hold funds on a private hardware wallet ("self-custody"), anonymity ends the moment you interact with a regulated CASP. While the wallet itself isn't reported, any transfer to an exchange to cash out or trade will be recorded and attributed to you. Additionally, Sec 6(4) of the Crypto Reporting Act specifically flags "mass payment transactions" exceeding USD 50,000 in value against goods or services.
- Fines for CASPs and other crypto-asset providers: According to Sec 40 of the Crypto Reporting Act, crypto-asset service providers face fines of up to EUR 200,000 for intentional failure to report or reporting incorrectly. No CASP or other exchange will risk its license or such heavy fines to protect an individual user's anonymity.
2026: The era of automatic data exchange begins
Under the new rules, CASPs and other crypto-asset providers worldwide will be legally required to report their customer data. This system works across borders.
1. Starting 1 January 2026: Platforms must begin recording all transaction data.
2. Reporting for 2026 until 31 July 2027: This data (names, tax IDs, wallet addresses, transaction volume) will be submitted to the local tax authorities, which will report the data to the Austrian tax authorities.
In a nutshell: If you trade crypto-assets on an exchange based in Germany, Malta, or in one of over 40 participating non-EU countries, that data will land directly on the desks of the Austrian tax authorities, and they will be able to cross-reference this data with your declared income according to your annual income tax return automatically.
What you should do now
Once data begins to flow in 2027, the risk of discovery for undeclared crypto-assets is unavoidable. If you have not reported income from crypto-assets in the past, now is the critical time to act.
The Austrian tax authorities can assess taxes as follows:
- the statute of limitations period is generally five years.
- in cases of intent (tax evasion), this period extends to ten years.
- with crypto-assets, tax authorities often assume at least conditional intent and apply the ten-year statute of limitations period.
As long as the authorities have not yet initiated investigative measures against you ("Verfolgungshandlung") and the tax evasion has not yet been discovered ("Tatentdeckung"), there is still the option to file a voluntary self-disclosure ("Selbstanzeige"), which can avoid fiscal criminal law procedures and fines. This can either lead to an exemption from punishment or be at least a mitigating circumstance that helps to significantly reduce the amount of the fine.
Our advice to Austrian crypto investors
Do not wait until the Austrian tax authority contacts you. Use the time until the first reporting to review your transaction history. If you are unsure whether your taxes have been handled correctly over the last few years, seek professional tax advice and contact us immediately in order to avoid fiscal criminal law proceedings and fines.