Germany's crypto industry associations have delivered a sharp critique of the finance ministry's planned overhaul of Bitcoin taxation, warning that the draft reform threatens to quietly dismantle the protection long-term holders currently enjoy. The pushback from Bitkom, the Bitcoin Bundesverband, the Blockchain Bundesverband and the German banking association comes just before the draft is due to move to cabinet.
At the centre of the dispute is the Bundesministerium der Finanzen's (BMF) plan to end the one-year holding period for newly acquired Bitcoin and to introduce automatic capital gains tax withholding, with a planned start date disputed even within the draft itself — some provisions point to 2027, others to 2028. The Bitcoin Bundesverband insists it is not seeking special treatment, stating: "The association demands neither a tax-free special zone nor a restriction of the state's interest in uniform taxation." It argues instead that "rules must be legally clear, technically feasible, administratively proportionate, and predictable for businesses and users alike," and explicitly "requests that the one-year holding period for directly held Bitcoin in private assets be retained."
A disputed cutoff date
A particular flashpoint is the BMF's proposed rule for cases where purchase data is missing: holdings would be assumed to have been acquired after 31 December 2026, stripping them of grandfathering protection. The Bitcoin Bundesverband calls this problematic given that "self-custody is a structural feature of Bitcoin," meaning tax authorities will often lack "the original purchase price, previous partial sales, gifts, inheritances, or the entire loss history." Missing data, the association argues, "must not be reinterpreted as an acquisition after the cutoff date solely because of incomplete purchase price information."
Bitkom has focused its criticism on the size of the replacement tax base used when purchase prices cannot be established — currently set at 50 percent of sale proceeds, which the association calls a "significantly excessive tax deduction." It proposes cutting the base to 30 percent and, separately, wants "no general tax exemption" but rather "a comprehensible differentiation between short-term realizations and long-term holding." On timing, Bitkom's position is that the current two-stage rollout is "not convincing," proposing instead "to apply the substantive new regulations and the capital gains tax deduction uniformly from 1 January 2028 and to retain the cutoff date of 31 December 2026 for grandfathering protection."
The Blockchain Bundesverband has urged caution on process, saying "the BMF should adhere to current law and first evaluate the DAC8 data." Frank Schäffler put the industry's underlying concern starkly: "For long-term holders, this means: the grandfathering protection disappears through the back door." The BMF, for its part, declined to engage with the specifics, saying only: "Due to ongoing internal government coordination, we cannot currently comment in detail."
Political and technical pressure building
Public sentiment is adding to the pressure. A petition calling for the existing holding period to be preserved gathered 44,439 signatures, well above the 30,000 quorum, reaching that threshold roughly a day after public co-signing opened. The Bundestag's Petitionsausschuss is scheduled to discuss it on 12 October — two days before the Bundeskabinett was slated to take up the reform itself.
Exchanges are also flagging operational strain. Ulli Spankowski noted that "for trading platforms, the planned new regulation means an adjustment of existing technical and operational processes," particularly "with regard to tax-relevant data, loss offsetting, reporting and external transfers," adding that this "could be associated with challenges." The stakeholder consultation period closed on 6 October, with the BMF's own projections pointing to long-term additional tax revenue of 350 million euros annually once the reform is in force.
