DriftPerpetuals
How are perps on Drift taxed in Germany?
In short
Perps on Drift are forward transactions (Termingeschäfte). Their result, after fees and funding, is capital income under § 20 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 a of the Income Tax Act (EStG), and it counts in the year you close the positions. A loss can only be offset against other capital income, not against gains from swaps.
What you deposit into your Drift account stays yours: a deposit isn't a disposal. The result of your positions isn't in your wallet, only at Drift, so you enter it once per subaccount and year, the way Drift shows it.
- As of:
- 19 October 2026
What is Drift?
Drift is an exchange for perpetuals on Solana: you use leverage to bet that a price will rise or fall. Unlike on Jupiter Perps, a position doesn't get its own account. You have one Drift account, with several subaccounts if you want them, and your deposits and all your positions sit in there together, as collateral for all of them.
Drift books gains and losses inside your account, mostly in USDC. No token moves in your wallet when it does. Something only comes back when you withdraw.
- The app app.drift.trade You deposit, trade and withdraw, confirming each step in your wallet.
- The program dRifty…33UH Drift keeps your account with its balance and positions, and books the results there.
- The account your Drift subaccount This holds your collateral, your positions and what they've gained or lost.
Two things count for tax: your tokens go into the account and come back, and the result of the positions in between is capital income.
Drift at a glance
- Type
- Perpetuals on Solana
A deposit at Drift on the blockchain
This is a real deposit into a Drift account from a public wallet, as TaxMaxi reads it. Next to each item the wallet gives up is what it means for tax.
- −2.7 SOL Collateral depositedstays yours, not a disposal, acquisition date and cost stay
- −0.000396758 SOL Network feethe SOL paid count as disposed of, and the fee isn't deducted anywhere
Programs called
- DriftdRifty…33UHkeeps your Drift account with its balances and positions
Minutes earlier, the same wallet had opened its account, traded and withdrawn everything. None of these transactions moves a token for the result of the trading, which exists only in Drift's own records.
An example in euros
In 2025 you deposit USDC into your Drift account, trade perps, and in November withdraw more than you put in. Drift shows a result of $160 for the year, and you enter that in TaxMaxi. Here's how TaxMaxi works it out:
- 10 January 2025Bought 1,000 USDC for €950.00
- 1 February 2025Deposited as collateral: 1,000 USDC, not a disposal
- 3 November 2025Collateral returned: 1,000 USDC, not a new acquisition
- 3 November 2025Withdrew more than deposited: 150 USDC from gains, worth €129.00, an acquisition
- 31 December 2025Year's result entered: 160 USDC, worth €136.00
- Result according to the app for 2025, in dollars, at the price of 31 December 2025
- 160 USDC
- Gain capital income under § 20 EStG
- +€136.00
Capital income from positions comes to +€136.00 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 saver's allowance (Sparer-Pauschbetrag) of €1,000 covers all your capital income together, and your bank may already be using it. Above it, the income costs 25% tax, plus the solidarity surcharge and church tax where it applies.
Worked out by TaxMaxi's tax engine, on the same principles as for your wallet.
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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5
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. For tokens you acquire from 2027, a finance ministry draft would drop the holding period: What is set to change from 2027.
Common questions
Why do I have to enter my Drift result myself?
Because it isn't in your wallet. When you close a position, Drift only moves the gain or loss inside your account, and no token moves in your wallet. What you withdraw mixes results with interest, loans and swaps inside the account. Drift shows the result itself in its app. TaxMaxi asks for it once per subaccount and year, in dollars, with a minus for a loss.
Which exchange rate does TaxMaxi use for a result in dollars?
The European Central Bank's rate for 31 December of that year. Strictly speaking, each position counts on the day it was closed. But the result you enter is one sum for the whole year, with no days in it, so TaxMaxi takes the last day of the year, which all the positions have reached. With gains early in the year and losses at the end, this is off by however much the dollar moved during the year.
What if I withdraw more than I deposited?
Then TaxMaxi asks you in the review what it was: a gain paid out from your positions, interest on your balance at Drift, or a loan against your account. What's paid out as a gain is treated as acquired at its value, and it counts through the result you enter. Interest is income under § 22 Nr. 3 EStG. A loan gets paid back.
Do I have to report funding and fees separately?
No, as long as you enter the result Drift shows after fees and funding. Under the finance ministry's letter on the flat tax on capital income (Abgeltungsteuer), the result of a forward transaction is the sum of all payments over its life (paragraph 36). Fees and funding are part of that sum and don't count a second time.
Does this also apply to Velocity?
Yes. Velocity is Drift's 2026 relaunch, with the same setup of accounts and subaccounts. TaxMaxi reads deposits and withdrawals there the same way, and asks for the result the same way, once per subaccount and year.
More Solana protocols
This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.