Does swapping Bitcoin for WBTC restart the one-year holding period?

12 hours ago 5

Anyone converting Bitcoin into Wrapped Bitcoin usually wants just one thing: to make their holding usable on Ethereum. In tax terms this step has still not been settled in Germany. The short answer to whether swapping into WBTC is taxable is therefore: there are two defensible readings, and they lead to entirely different outcomes. Under one, the switch is a swap and therefore a private disposal transaction that restarts the one-year clock on your coins. Under the other, economic identity is preserved and the transaction stays tax-neutral. Which reading counts in the end depends on what you can document.

This guide sets out the legal position under German law, meaning the Income Tax Act, the administrative view of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the case law of the Federal Fiscal Court. It names the points on which the tax authorities have so far stayed silent, and it says which documents carry the same weight under both readings.