SanctumLiquid staking
How is liquid staking with Sanctum taxed in Germany?
In short
With Sanctum you give up SOL and get the token of a stake pool, such as jupSOL, or INF, the token of the Infinity pool. Measured in SOL, these tokens gain a little value every epoch. For tax, every change is a swap: SOL into one of these tokens, back into SOL, and from one of these tokens into another.
Nothing is credited to you while you hold the token, so the growth isn't income. It shows up only at the next swap, as a gain: taxable under § 23 of the Income Tax Act (EStG) if you held the token for a year or less, unless your gains from all private sales stay under €1,000 for the year. After more than a year it's tax-free.
- As of:
- 16 October 2026
- Based on:
- § 23 EStG, BMF letter of 6 March 2025
What is Sanctum?
Sanctum runs the technology behind many liquid staking tokens on Solana. Wallets, exchanges and validators use it to issue their own token, such as Jupiter's jupSOL, and Sanctum connects them: through its router you can swap SOL into any of these tokens, or one token into another. The Infinity pool holds many of them together, and its token INF grows with the rewards of all of them and with the fees from swaps in the pool.
Each of these tokens is a crypto asset in its own right, with its own price, even though they all stand for staked SOL. That's why going from jupSOL to INF is a swap for tax too.
- The app app.sanctum.so You pick which token you want for your SOL and confirm in your wallet.
- The program stkitr…smhq Sanctum's router pays the SOL into the token's stake pool and gives you the token.
- The stake pools jupSOL, INF and many more This is where the SOL is staked, and its rewards make the tokens grow in value.
Only the swap counts for tax: one token leaves your wallet and another arrives. Whether you swap through Sanctum, Jupiter or a wallet app makes no difference.
Sanctum at a glance
- Type
- Liquid staking on Solana
SOL for jupSOL on the blockchain
A real deposit through Sanctum's router from a public wallet, the way TaxMaxi reads it. Next to each item the wallet gives up or receives, you can see what it means for tax.
- −22 SOL Disposalat the euro value of what was received
- +18.111102709 jupSOL Acquisitionstarts the one-year period
- −0.00148844 SOL Rent depositedfor a new token account of your wallet, not a swap
- −0.000005001 SOL Network feedeductible expenses (Werbungskosten) of the swap
Programs called
- Sanctum Routerstkitr…smhqfinds the route and runs the swap
- Sanctum Multi Stake PoolSPMBzs…Jvbnthe stake pool that takes the SOL and issues its token
The app first put the 22 SOL into a new account for wrapped SOL, and the router paid them into the pool from there. The account stayed open, and the small deposit on it is rent: it still belongs to you and isn't a swap. The swap itself was 22 SOL for just over 18 jupSOL.
An example in euros
You've held SOL for more than a year. You swap it through Sanctum into jupSOL, and half a year later into INF. SOL lost value over that time. Here's how TaxMaxi works out the two swaps:
- 1 June 2024Bought 20 SOL for €3,000.00
- 1 September 2025Swap: 20 SOL given up
- 1 September 2025Received: 17 jupSOL, worth €4,000.00
- 1 March 2026Swap: 17 jupSOL given up
- 1 March 2026Received: 12 INF, worth €3,900.00
- Proceeds value of the jupSOL received
- €4,000.00
- Cost basis 20 SOL from 1 June 2024
- − €3,000.00
- Gain after 457 days, tax-free
- +€1,000.00
Swap on 1 September 2025: SOL given up
- Proceeds value of the INF received
- €3,900.00
- Cost basis 17 jupSOL from 1 September 2025
- − €4,000.00
- Loss after 181 days, counts for tax
- −€100.00
Swap on 1 March 2026: jupSOL given up
The year 2026 comes to −€100.00. The loss is set against gains from private sales in the same year, even gains under the exemption limit of €1,000. What is left can be carried forward or back to other years.
Worked out by TaxMaxi's tax engine, on the same principles as for your wallet.
The legal basis
Whether a swap costs tax is set by the Income Tax Act (EStG), above all § 23 EStG on private sales. How tax offices apply this to crypto is set out in the finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025, which binds them.
The letter is divided into numbered paragraphs (Randnummern). Each principle below says where to find it; a click opens the letter at that spot.
- 1
-
2
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.
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
-
7
The exemption limit (Freigrenze)
If the sum of all your gains from private sales in the year stays under €1,000 (up to 2023: €600), it's tax-free. Above that, all of it is taxable, not only the part over the limit.
See the BMF letter, paragraph 53
-
8
Rent for token accounts
When you receive a token for the first time, the swap creates an account for it and puts down a small amount of SOL as rent. That isn't a swap: the SOL stay yours and come back when the account is closed.
See the BMF letter, paragraph 54
Common questions
Is swapping jupSOL into INF taxable?
Yes. Both tokens stand for staked SOL, but each is a crypto asset of its own with its own price. The change is a swap: you dispose of one and acquire the other. If you held the token you gave up for a year or less, the gain or loss counts in the year of the swap.
Do I have to report my tokens' growth as income every year?
No. Staking rewards are income when extra tokens are credited to you (paragraph 48 of the finance ministry's letter of 6 March 2025). With jupSOL or INF nothing is credited: you hold the same amount, and only its value in SOL goes up. So the growth counts only when you swap the token, as part of the gain. The BMF letter doesn't name liquid staking tokens explicitly. TaxMaxi follows what it says about swaps and staking.
Why did some extra SOL leave when I deposited?
Many apps turn your SOL into wrapped SOL before the deposit and open an account for it, sometimes one for the new token as well. Each new account costs a small deposit, the rent. It's still yours and comes back when the account is closed. If that leaves some wrapped SOL in the account, it's still your SOL too. TaxMaxi reads it this way when the amounts match exactly, and asks you otherwise.
What doesn't TaxMaxi read at Sanctum yet?
A stake account that you deposit into a pool, or withdraw from one as a stake account. TaxMaxi puts those transactions in front of you in the review, and you say what happened.
What if I held the token for more than a year?
Then the gain on the swap is tax-free, however much the token grew in that time. For the token you receive, the one-year holding period starts over.
More Solana protocols
This page explains how TaxMaxi calculates. It is not tax advice and does not replace a tax advisor.