Germany's plan to abolish the one-year tax-free holding period for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been delayed once more. The reform was not addressed in the Bundeskabinett on Wednesday as scheduled, according to Frank Schäffler, a former member of the Bundestag for the FDP, who has tracked the measure closely.
The proposal, driven by the Bundesfinanzministerium, remains stuck in Ressortabstimmung, the inter-ministerial coordination process that German draft laws must pass through before reaching cabinet. No new date for cabinet consideration has been announced.
Under current German tax law, private individuals can sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies tax-free once they have held them for more than one year. The Bundesfinanzministerium's draft law would scrap that exemption, though it includes a Bestandsschutz, or grandfathering provision, that would allow holdings acquired before 2027 to still be sold tax-free.
Petition and parliamentary pushback
The delay follows sustained public pressure. A petition calling for the holding period to be retained has gathered more than 44,000 signatures. A public hearing on that petition took place in the Petitionsausschuss des Bundestags one day before news of the latest delay emerged.
Opposition to the abolition is not confined to petitioners. At least twelve Bundestag MPs, from the Union parties CDU and CSU, have criticized the plan to scrap the exemption, adding to the political friction the draft law faces before it can proceed to cabinet.
Industry expects the change to go ahead
Despite the repeated delays, industry observers still expect the reform to be enacted. A survey conducted by BTC-ECHO together with IU Internationale Hochschule asked 41 industry experts to estimate the likelihood of abolition within six months; the average probability given was 65 percent.
A parallel community survey run by BTC-ECHO, drawing 254 participants, produced a higher average estimate of 69 percent. Both surveys suggest that, notwithstanding the petition, the hearing and the criticism from Union MPs, most observers still regard the removal of the tax-free holding period as the more likely outcome once the draft clears inter-ministerial coordination.
For now, the measure remains unresolved, with no confirmed date for it to return to the Bundeskabinett's agenda.
