Annual reporting obligations introduced for crypto-asset service providers

As of 1 January 2026, crypto assets have become subject to the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC). The legal basis of this change is the Directive’s seventh amendment (DAC8), which establishes several new obligations for Crypto-Asset Service Providers operating in the EU or otherwise providing services for customers who are tax resident in an EU Member State. These obligations are, for example, registration, client identification in case of new customers, collection of data on reportable crypto-asset transactions, reporting the collected data to the competent authority - in accordance with the GDPR, on an annual basis, compliance with the national requirements detailing the rules of DAC8. EU Member States had more than two years for the implementation of the provisions of DAC8, as it was adopted on 17 October 2023 by the Council of the European Union.

The first version of the Directive, adopted in 2011 and its amendments regulate the cooperation between EU Member States in tax matters, in particular the forms of the exchange of tax-related information and the applicable procedures. This cooperation aims to combat tax evasion and tax avoidance in order to ensure tax fairness.

Under DAC, three types of exchange of information exist: on-request, automatic and spontaneous. Exchange of information on request means that if one Member State’s tax authority requests another Member State’s tax authority to share any DAC-relevant information that it has in its possession or that it obtains as a result of administrative enquiries, the requested authority shall satisfy that request within six months at the latest. Automatic exchange of information means that a Member State has to share - on an annual basis - all information relating to certain categories of income and capital of a taxable person who is tax resident in another Member State with the tax administration of that Member State of tax residence. Information relating to, inter alia, income from employment, director’s fee, certain life insurance products, pensions, and ownership of and income from immovable property shall be exchanged automatically, as explained above. Spontaneous exchange of information happens when an EU Member State shares any taxation-related information relevant or useful to another Member State with that Member State.

Since DAC8 has entered into force, relevant information regarding crypto assets (such as their full name, type, transaction price, market value etc.) fall under the scope of the annual automatic exchange of information between Member States, therefore, tax authorities within the EU finally have a useful legal instrument which will help them to ensure tax compliance in the field of crypto assets.