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TaxMaxi works out crypto taxes under German law today. Leave your email and we'll write once, when it's ready.

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TaxMaxi works out crypto taxes under German law today. Leave your email and we'll write once, when it's ready.

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How are perps (perpetual futures) taxed in Germany?

In short

Perps (perpetual futures) and other leveraged crypto futures are forward transactions (Termingeschäfte) in Germany. When you close a position, its result is capital income under § 20 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 a of the Income Tax Act (EStG) and not a private sale under § 23 EStG: what comes back, minus what you put in as collateral, in euros on the day you close. Fees and funding are already in that figure. It counts in the year you close, and an open position counts nothing yet. There's no holding period here and no €1,000 exemption limit (Freigrenze), and a loss is only offset against other capital income, not against gains from selling or swapping coins.

The collateral stays your own token. Depositing it isn't a disposal, and it keeps its acquisition date and cost basis. Whatever doesn't come back paid for the loss and counts as disposed of under § 23 EStG, and in a liquidation that's all that was left. The finance ministry's letter on crypto assets says nothing about derivatives, so TaxMaxi calculates by § 20 EStG and the ministry's letter on the flat tax on capital income (Abgeltungsteuer).

As of:
Based on:
§ 20 EStG, § 23 EStG, BMF letter of 6 March 2025

What are perps?

A perp is a contract on a coin's price, with no expiry date. You don't buy the coin. You bet with leverage that its price will rise (long) or fall (short), and you put up collateral for it. When you close, you get the collateral back with the gain or minus the loss. If the price runs too far against you, the position is liquidated.

For tax, that's a forward transaction. The BMF letter on capital income of 14 May 2025 puts futures and contracts for difference (Differenzgeschäfte) under § 20 EStG (paragraph 9). A perp has no expiry date, and neither does a contract for difference. So far no law, no court and no BMF letter mentions crypto perps by name. The letter on crypto assets of 6 March 2025 only says that crypto assets can lead to income of every kind, capital income included (paragraph 30).

Where you trade doesn't change the tax, but it changes where your result is recorded. There are three ways:

A position against a poolJupiter Perps, Flash Trade
A pool is your counterparty. Your collateral leaves your wallet and comes back with the result when you close. TaxMaxi reads each position on its own from the transactions: what comes back beyond the collateral is the gain, and what's missing is the loss.
One account for all positionsDrift
All your positions share the collateral in one account (cross margin). Drift books gains and losses only there, and no token moves in your wallet. TaxMaxi reads deposits and withdrawals as moves of your own tokens and asks for the result once per sub-account and year, as Drift shows it.
Futures on a centralized exchangeBinance, Bybit, Kraken
The exchange keeps collateral, positions and result in its own books, on no blockchain. For tax it's still a forward transaction under § 20 EStG. TaxMaxi doesn't read exchanges' futures accounts yet.

For tax, only the position counts: the collateral goes in and comes back, and the result in between is capital income. Leverage through a loan isn't a perp: swapping borrowed tokens is a disposal under § 23 EStG, see lending.

An example in euros

You buy 100 USDC in January 2025, put them into a long as collateral on 1 March and close the position at a loss on 20 March. 80 USDC come back, and the other 20 paid for the loss. So the calculation has two parts: the position's result under § 20 EStG and the 20 USDC under § 23 EStG. The euro values are assumed. Here's how TaxMaxi works it out:

  1. 10 January 2025Bought 100 USDC for €95.00
  2. 1 March 2025Deposited as collateral: 100 USDC, not a disposal
  3. 20 March 2025Collateral returned: 80 USDC, not a new acquisition
  4. 20 March 2025Paid the loss: 20 USDC of the collateral, worth €18.50, a disposal
  5. 20 March 2025Position closed: result −€18.50

Position on 20 March 2025

Came back on 20 March 2025
80 USDC
Deposited as collateral
− 100 USDC
Loss 20 USDC at its value on the day of closing, capital income under § 20 EStG
−€18.50

The 20 USDC that paid the loss

20 USDC from 10 January 2025 after 69 days, taxable
−€0.50
Loss under § 23 EStG, counts for tax
−€0.50

Capital income from positions comes to −€18.50 in 2025. It counts under § 20 EStG, separately from private sales: there is no holding period here, and the exemption limit for private sales doesn't apply. The loss is set only against other capital income, such as interest or dividends, and otherwise carried forward to the next year, never against gains from private sales. There is no longer a cap on this. Under § 23 EStG, 2025 shows a loss of €0.50, which is set against gains from private sales in the same year.

Worked out by TaxMaxi's tax engine, on the same principles as for your wallet.

Perps on your chain

Each protocol's page shows how it keeps your position, where a liquidation is recorded, and when TaxMaxi comes back to you with a question, using a real transaction from a public wallet. So far TaxMaxi reads perps on Solana.

More topics: Airdrops, Bridges, Lending, Liquidity Pools, Staking, Swaps. All topics at a glance: DeFi taxes in Germany.

The legal basis

Whether a leveraged position costs tax is set by § 20 EStG on capital income: a perp is a forward transaction (Termingeschäft). How tax offices treat forward transactions is in the finance ministry's letter on capital income of 14 May 2025. For the tokens you deposit as collateral, § 23 EStG on private sales and the letter on crypto assets of 6 March 2025 still apply. Tax offices are bound by both letters.

Both letters are divided into numbered paragraphs (Randnummern). Each principle below says where to find it; a click on a paragraph of the letter on crypto assets opens it at that spot, and the letter on capital income opens on the ministry's site.

  1. 1

    Leveraged positions

    A perp or another position with leverage is a forward transaction (Termingeschäft). Its result is part of capital income under § 20 EStG: what came back, minus what you paid in, in euros on the day of closing, and it counts in the year you close. There's no holding period here and no €1,000 exemption limit (Freigrenze).

    See § 20 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 a EStG, § 20 Abs. 4 Satz 5 EStG and BMF letter on capital income of 14 May 2025, paragraphs 9 and 36

  2. 2

    Fees in the result

    Fees for opening and closing, the borrow fee and funding are part of the position's result. They're taken from your collateral, so less comes back, and they don't count a second time.

    See § 20 Abs. 4 Satz 5 EStG and BMF letter on capital income of 14 May 2025, paragraph 36

  3. 3

    Losses from positions

    A loss from leveraged positions is only offset against other capital income, such as interest or dividends, and otherwise carried forward to the next year. It isn't offset against gains from private sales under § 23 EStG. Since 2024 there's no longer an upper limit on such losses.

    See § 20 Abs. 6 Satz 1 und 2 EStG, Annual Tax Act 2024 (Jahressteuergesetz 2024, BGBl. 2024 I Nr. 387) and § 52 Abs. 28 Satz 25 und 26 EStG

  4. 4

    Collateral

    Tokens you pay into a position as collateral stay yours. That's not a disposal, and they keep their acquisition date and cost basis. If more tokens come back, the extra ones are acquired at their value on that day. If fewer come back, the missing ones paid for the loss and are disposed of at their value on that day.

    See § 20 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 a EStG and § 23 Abs. 1 Satz 1 Nr. 2 EStG

  5. 5

    Liquidated position

    If your position is liquidated, the rest of your collateral is lost. That's a loss under § 20 EStG on that day, even if everything is gone, and the collateral counts as disposed of at its value on that day.

    See § 20 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 a EStG and § 20 Abs. 6 EStG

  6. 6

    One-year holding period

    The year runs from the day of acquisition to the swap, and each swap starts it again for the token you receive. There's no extension to ten years.

    See the BMF letter on crypto assets, paragraphs 55 and 63

Common questions

Are perps taxed like spot trades?

No. Buying or swapping a coin is a private sale under § 23 EStG, with the one-year holding period and the €1,000 exemption limit. With a perp you don't buy a coin, you bet on its price. That's a forward transaction, and its result is capital income under § 20 EStG. The BMF letter on crypto assets names § 20 EStG as one possible kind of income (paragraph 30) but says nothing about derivatives. So TaxMaxi follows the BMF letter on capital income (paragraph 9).

How much tax is due on gains from perps?

Capital income costs 25% tax, plus the solidarity surcharge (Solidaritätszuschlag) and church tax where it applies (§ 32d EStG). The saver's allowance (Sparer-Pauschbetrag) of €1,000, or €2,000 for a couple filing jointly, covers all your capital income together, and your bank may already be using it. A protocol on a blockchain withholds no tax for you, so the results belong in the tax return, on its Anlage KAP form. TaxMaxi's report gives the year's totals for it and lists each closed position. It doesn't take the allowance off, because it doesn't know your other capital income.

Can I offset losses from perps against gains from selling coins?

No. A loss from forward transactions is only offset against other capital income, such as interest or dividends, and otherwise carried forward to the next year (§ 20 Abs. 6 EStG). Gains from selling or swapping coins are private sales under § 23 EStG and sit in a separate pot. The same holds the other way round: a loss from private sales only reduces gains of that kind (§ 23 Abs. 3 Satz 7 EStG), not a gain from perps.

Does the €20,000 limit on losses from forward transactions still apply?

No. § 20 Abs. 6 Satz 5 EStG used to limit the offsetting of losses from forward transactions to €20,000 a year. The Annual Tax Act 2024 (Jahressteuergesetz 2024) scrapped that limit, for all open cases. Since then a loss counts in full, including the loss of all your collateral in a liquidation. It's still only offset against other capital income.

Do I pay tax on funding and fees separately?

No. Opening and closing fees, the borrow fee and funding are part of the position's result: they're taken from your collateral, so less comes back. Under the BMF letter on capital income, the result of a forward transaction is the sum of all payments over its life (paragraph 36). The letter doesn't mention funding by name. On that principle TaxMaxi counts it in the position's result and not as income of its own.

What happens for tax in a liquidation?

The rest of your collateral is lost. That's a loss under § 20 EStG on that day, even if everything is gone. The collateral counts as disposed of at its value on that day. With SOL or ETH that can make a gain or loss under § 23 EStG within the one-year holding period, and with USDC hardly any. Someone else sends a liquidation, so it's often only in the position's history. If it can't be read there, TaxMaxi asks you in the review.

Am I selling my collateral when I open a position?

No. The collateral stays your own token: depositing it isn't a disposal, its acquisition date and cost basis stay, and the one-year holding period keeps running. If more tokens come back when you close, the extra ones are newly acquired at their value on that day. If you or the pool swap the collateral into another token, though, that's a swap under § 23 EStG. For tokens you acquire from 2027 on, a finance ministry draft would drop the holding period: What's set to change from 2027.

What should I keep for the tax office?

The tax office must be able to follow the income you declare (paragraph 90), and it can ask for wallet addresses, transaction hashes and details of accounts on exchanges (paragraph 104). For a position that means when it was opened and closed, what went in, what came back and the fees. With Drift or an exchange, the result is only in their own records. TaxMaxi's report lists each closed position, as far as the protocol shows these details.

Sources

This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.

German Federal Ministry of Finance

BMF letter of 6 March 2025

The letter in which the ministry sets out how tax offices tax crypto assets, in TaxMaxi's own translation. Its paragraphs are numbered. Only the German original counts.

Loading the letter…