Germany finance minister Klingbeil revives plan to end one-year crypto tax exemption in 2027 budget
German Finance Minister Klingbeil is reviving a plan to scrap the one-year tax-free holding period for crypto gains in the 2027 budget draft, Cointelegraph reports. Crypto taxed like stocks: 25% plus surcharge, any holding time. Goal: 2bn euros. Merz's CDU/CSU has resisted the id
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is reviving a plan to abolish the one-year tax-free holding period for private cryptocurrency gains, folding it into the government's 2027 budget framework, Cointelegraph and CryptoRank report. Under current German law, crypto held longer than a year in private wealth can be sold tax-free; hold it for less and gains are taxed at the personal income tax rate. Under Klingbeil's plan, digital assets would instead be treated like stocks or funds, subject to Germany's flat 25% capital gains rate plus solidarity surcharge, regardless of how long the coins were held. The finance ministry says the one-year rule also currently applies to staking and lending income, which would fall under the same change. The government is targeting roughly 2 billion euros in additional revenue from the shift. The proposal is not yet law. It still needs a formal bill, a cabinet decision and the full parliamentary process. It also has a contested history: the idea was dropped from the coalition agreement that brought Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government to power in 2025 after pushback from the CDU/CSU, and that same resistance from Merz's own party is likely to shape whether Klingbeil's revived version survives the budget negotiations.