Crypto on your Swiss tax return (2025)

Key takeaways

• What you hold is wealth. Declare your balance at 31 December at its year-end value in Swiss francs, like a bank account.
• Selling is normally tax-free. If you manage your own private wealth, a gain on a sale is a tax-free private capital gain. A loss is not deductible.
• Staking, mining and airdrops are income at their value on receipt, and the same tokens are then wealth at year end.
• Use the ESTVESTVThe Federal Tax AdministrationFRAFCEidgenössische Steuerverwaltung: the federal tax authority. It publishes the forms, leaflets and price lists the cantons and your tax software work from, but it is not the office that assesses you: that is your canton.Where you see itNamed as the publisher on federal forms, leaflets and the Kursliste.Open in the glossary → year-end rate from ictax.admin.ch where your coin is listed, otherwise the platform's year-end close, and keep the same source every year.
• Five tests keep you a private investor (ESTV circular 36). Failing one does not make you a professional trader, but the protection no longer applies.

Holding, selling and earning are taxed differently

Almost every crypto tax question in Switzerland resolves once you separate these three.

What happened	Taxed as	When
You hold coins	Wealth (Vermögenssteuer)	Balance at 31 December, every year
You sold at a profit	Normally not taxed, as a private capital gain	n/a
You sold at a loss	Not deductible	n/a
You earned staking or mining rewards	Income	The year you received them, at value on receipt
You received an airdrop	Income	Same
You spent crypto on something	Normally not taxed	n/a

One distinction causes most of the confusion. A rise in the price of a coin you already hold is tax-free; new tokens arriving in your wallet are income. Both make your balance larger, but only the second is income. In the federal working paper, staking rewards and airdrops are income from movable assets (DBGDBGThe federal income tax actFRLIFDBundesgesetz über die direkte Bundessteuer: the act that governs federal income tax for the whole country. Almost every federal rule a guide cites comes from here, which is why the abbreviation appears so often beside an article number.Where you see itIn citations, as DBG Art. 33 or similar. French and Italian sources call the same act LIFD.Open in the glossary → Art. 20 para 1) valued at the moment they arrive; mining rewards are income under DBG Art. 16 para 1.

What value do you use?

Year-end value in Swiss francs. Where you get it depends on the coin. The source is federal, so the answer is the same wherever you file; Zurich restates it in its own guide to the 2025 return.

• Common coins. The ESTV publishes a year-end tax rate for Bitcoin and other widely held cryptocurrencies at ictax.admin.ch. The official figure is the one the tax office expects. The list is filled in through the year, so if your coin is not there yet when you file, use the platform rate below and state which source you used rather than waiting.
• Other coins. Use the year-end closing rate of the most commonly used trading platform for that currency. Record which platform and which timestamp.
• A coin with no determinable rate at all. The federal working paper says to declare the original purchase price, converted into Swiss francs.

Zurich also names the evidence: a statement from your wallet (Kontoauszug der digitalen Brieftasche) showing the position at the end of the tax period.

Use the same source and the same method every year. Changing exchange from year to year to get a lower value is what prompts the tax office to ask.

When trading counts as professional

Private capital gains are tax-free unless your activity counts as professional securities trading. If it does, your gains become taxable income and social-security contributions can follow.

Taxed

• The value you hold at 31 December, as wealth
• Staking rewards, as income when received
• Mining income
• Airdrops, at their value when received

Not taxed

• Selling at a profit, as a private investor
• Buying, holding or moving between your own wallets
• An unrealised gain, however large
• A loss, which is not deductible either

This changes if the tax office treats you as a professional trader. Frequent short-term trading, especially with borrowed money, is what leads to that.

ESTV circular no. 36 sets five tests, and the crypto working paper applies the same ones to payment tokens by analogy. You count as a private investor when all five hold at the same time:

1. You held what you sold for at least 6 months.
2. Your buying and selling in the year totals no more than 5 times your securities and cash holdings at the start of the period.
3. Your realised gains are under 50% of your net income.
4. The investments are not debt-financed, or their taxable income exceeds the related debt interest.
5. Any derivatives only hedge positions you already hold.

Failing one test does not make you a professional trader. It means this protection no longer applies and the tax office judges your situation on its full circumstances. The boundary is not precise and the extra tax can be large, so if you trade often, ask your cantonal tax office or an adviser rather than assuming you are exempt.

Proving what a self-custody wallet held

No tool does this for you. A Swiss bank issues a tax statement; a hardware wallet does not. Keep, per wallet and per exchange:

• The 31 December balance for each coin, on a wallet statement.
• The value you used, the source and the timestamp.
• The transaction history for the year.
• Dates and values for tokens received from staking, mining or airdrops, since those are income at receipt.

Crypto tax software does not produce a Swiss tax statement. Koinly, Blockpit and similar tools reconcile transactions and produce a gains or valuation report, which is useful for your own records. None of them emits a Swiss eCH-0196 statement, and their export integrations point at German tax software rather than Swiss cantonal tools. You still type the year-end figures into your return yourself.

Common questions

Do I pay tax on crypto profits in Switzerland?

Normally no. If you manage your own private wealth, a gain on selling crypto is a tax-free private capital gain, the same treatment as shares. You do pay wealth tax on the balance you hold at 31 December. The exception is trading heavy enough to count as professional.

Are staking rewards taxable?

Yes, as income from movable assets in the year you receive them, valued at the market price on receipt. This is separate from wealth tax on the resulting balance, so the same tokens appear in two places: as income when they arrive, and as wealth at year end.

Sources

The sources below support the tax figures and rules discussed in this guide. Follow the links to check the original guidance and its scope.

1. ESTV — working paper on cryptocurrencies and ICOs/ITOs (Arbeitspapier Kryptowährungen), 14 December 2021: wealth tax at market value at the end of the tax period, purchase-price fallback, mining and staking and airdrops as income, no anticipatory tax — estv.admin.ch
2. ESTV — ICTax, the federal price list with year-end tax values — ictax.admin.ch
3. ESTV — Kreisschreiben Nr. 36, Gewerbsmässiger WertschriftenhandelGewerbsmässiger WertschriftenhandelProfessional securities dealingFRcommerce professionnel de titresITcommercio professionale di titoliBeing reclassified from private investor to professional trader, which makes your capital gains taxable income and adds social contributions. Triggered by trading patterns, not by a choice you make.Where you see itNever on a form. It is a decision the tax office reaches about you.Open in the glossary →, 27 July 2012, section 3: the five cumulative safe-harbour tests — estv.admin.ch
4. Canton Zurich — WegleitungWegleitungOfficial filing instructionsFRinstructionsITistruzioniThe canton's own guide to completing the return, published each tax year. Authoritative and, in Zurich, German only.Where you see itPublished on zh.ch alongside the year's forms.Open in the glossary → zur SteuererklärungSteuererklärungTax returnFRdéclaration d'impôtITdichiarazione d'impostaThe return itself: the whole set of forms you complete and submit for one tax year. What the canton sends you, and what its software fills in.Where you see itThe title on the letter the canton sends, and the name of the cantonal app.Open in the glossary → 2025, notes to the securities and credit balances list: ESTV year-end rate for common coins, the most commonly used platform for the rest, wallet statement as evidence — zh.ch
5. StHGStHGThe cantonal tax harmonisation actFRLHIDITLAIDSteuerharmonisierungsgesetz: the act that tells all 26 cantons which taxes they must levy and how the rules must be shaped. It sets the frame; each canton still fixes its own rates and many of its own deduction ceilings inside it.Where you see itIn citations as StHG Art. 13 or similar, usually beside the DBG article covering the same point federally.Open in the glossary → (SR 642.14) Art. 13, 14 and 17 — wealth tax on total net wealth, valued at market value, measured at the end of the tax period — fedlex.admin.ch
6. DBG (SR 642.11) Art. 16 para 3 (private capital gains are tax-free), Art. 20 para 1 (income from movable assets), Art. 152 para 1 (10 years to open a supplementary-tax procedure) — fedlex.admin.ch
7. SIFSIFThe State Secretariat for International Financial MattersFRSFIStaatssekretariat für internationale Finanzfragen: the federal body responsible for Switzerland's double taxation agreements and for the automatic exchange of financial information with other countries.Where you see itNamed as the source for which double taxation agreement applies to a given country.Open in the glossary → — automatic exchange of information on crypto assets: the legal basis does not apply in 2026 and cannot be implemented before 1 January 2027 at the earliest — sif.admin.ch