Selling bitcoin privately: the tax in Germany and the records you need

Selling bitcoin privately is not a special case under German tax law. The same rule applies as for a sale through a crypto exchange: if more than a year sits between purchase and sale, the gain is tax free under Section 23 of the German Income Tax Act. Sell inside the one-year window and the gain becomes taxable as soon as all private disposals in a single calendar year together exceed the threshold of 1,000 euros. Whether the money changes hands as cash across a café table, arrives by SEPA transfer or runs through the escrow of a peer-to-peer marketplace makes no difference to that calculation. The difference from an exchange sale lies elsewhere, and it is the reason for this guide: an exchange gives you a transaction report at the end of the year showing the acquisition date, the sale price and the gain. On a direct sale of bitcoin to a private individual, that report does not exist. You build the chain of evidence for the tax office yourself, and the best day to do it is the day of the sale. This article explains how to calculate the taxable gain on a peer-to-peer sale, which documents you need, when the threshold tips over, what anti-money-laundering law expects of you, and whe...