For anyone who has so far given little or no thought to the taxation of their crypto assets, things could drastically change from autumn 2021. The EU Commission plans to monitor tax-payers who earn money via crypto assets much more strictly. Although there are already rules in Austria and Germany on how Bitcoin, Ethereum and Co. are to be taxed (in DeFi they are in a grey area), offences can only really be punished in the future.

The DAC-8 Directive (the eighth version of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation) provides for a "strengthening of the rules for administrative cooperation and an expansion of the ex-change of information" and, in detail, an expansion to the areas of crypto assets and e-money. The financial authorities are to be provided with new options for taking action against tax fraud and tax evasion.

Observers expect the DAC-8 Directive to be implemented in the next 12 to 18 months.

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