From 1 January 2024, Austrian crypto platforms and brokers, including Coinfinity, must withhold capital gains tax (KESt) on the sale of cryptocurrencies acquired after 1 March 2021.
From 01.01.2024, Austrian crypto platforms and brokers are obliged to withhold capital gains tax (KESt) on the sale of cryptocurrencies purchased from 01.03.2021. This regulation also applies to sales of Bitcoin at Coinfinity if you have a main residence or permanent residence in Austria. For this reason, we also ask for your tax residency to ensure that we fulfil all legal requirements and calculate your tax obligations correctly.
In order to calculate the withholding tax correctly, we need information on the purchase dates and costs, which must then be checked for plausibility.
What does this mean for you?
- No capital gains tax deduction for the sale of Bitcoin purchased before 01.03.2021 (old stock):
If you purchased your Bitcoin before 01.03.2021, these are crypto legacy assets. Legacy crypto assets can be sold tax-free and there is no capital gains tax deduction.
- Withholding tax deduction on the sale of Bitcoin purchased from 01.03.2021 (new stock):
If you have acquired Bitcoin from 01.03.2021, these are new crypto assets. When selling against euros, a capital gains tax rate of 27.5% is withheld from your capital gain (sales proceeds minus acquisition costs).
- Sale without notification of acquisition costs resp. unknown (flat-rate)
If you do not disclose any acquisition costs and acquisition dates or the information is classified as implausible during the plausibility check, we must make a flat-rate withholding tax deduction. In this case, half of your sales proceeds will be assumed as the acquisition costs.
- Old and new Bitcoin on one Bitcoin address:
If you bought Bitcoin both before and after 01.03.2021 and hold it on the same Bitcoin address, the law allows you to choose which Bitcoin you want to sell first. In case of doubt, it is assumed that the bitcoins purchased earlier are deemed to have been sold first.
In the case of flat-rate and new stock, we will withhold the capital gains tax and pay it to the tax office for you.