Crypto asset taxation in Spain has transformed in three years from a lightly regulated area into one of the most actively monitored by the Tax Agency. The entry into force of Modelo 721 (2024), the extension of Modelos 172/173 to Spanish exchanges, and Directive DAC8 — which extends automatic information exchange to EU crypto service providers from 2026 — together create an environment in which fiscal opacity is no longer viable.
This guide analyses the current tax obligations for investors and companies with crypto asset exposure in Spain, the ongoing regulatory changes, and the practical consequences of non-compliance.
Legal Framework: Law 11/2021 and Implementing Regulations
The legal basis for crypto asset tax obligations in Spain rests on three pillars:
Law 11/2021 of 9 July, on measures for the prevention and combat of tax fraud. This law amended the General Tax Law, the IRPF Law and the Corporate Income Tax Law to establish, for the first time, specific information obligations on cryptocurrencies and crypto assets. It introduced three new informational returns: those to be filed by exchanges and custodians based in Spain (Modelos 172/173) and the one to be filed by taxpayers themselves regarding crypto assets held abroad (Modelo 721).
Royal Decree 249/2023 of 4 April, amending various tax regulations to incorporate the implementing rules for crypto asset information obligations. This decree governs the scope of the returns, the obligated parties, the information to be provided and the filing deadlines.
Order HFP/887/2023 of 26 July, approving Modelo 721 for the informational return on virtual currencies held outside Spain. It establishes the format, content and electronic filing procedure.
At European level, Directive 2023/2226/EU (DAC8), published in the EU Official Journal on 24 October 2023, extends the automatic information exchange framework — which already existed for traditional financial accounts (DAC2/CRS), dividends and other financial products — to Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) across the entire EU. Member states were required to transpose DAC8 by 31 December 2025.
IRPF: How Crypto Gains and Losses Are Taxed
Classification of Income
The AEAT has clarified its classification criteria through various binding rulings from the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT). Crypto asset income can be classified as:
Capital gains and losses (savings base). This is the primary classification for cryptocurrency disposals. Any transaction in which the taxpayer disposes of or exchanges crypto assets — including exchanging one cryptocurrency for another — generates a capital gain or loss that is included in the savings base.
Financial capital income (savings base). For staking, lending or interest income on crypto assets on certain platforms where the relationship between the taxpayer and the platform resembles a loan of assets with a right to compensation. Also for income from tokens conferring economic rights analogous to those of fixed-income securities.
Income from economic activities (general base). For those who mine cryptocurrencies as a regular business activity with productive organisation, or who operate in DeFi with a frequency and infrastructure that the AEAT classifies as an economic activity.
Employment income (general base). For salary payments in cryptocurrency or tokens received as compensation in the context of an employment relationship.
Savings Tax Rates in 2026
| Gain bracket | IRPF rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €6,000 | 19% |
| €6,001 – €50,000 | 21% |
| €50,001 – €200,000 | 23% |
| €200,001 – €300,000 | 27% |
| Above €300,000 | 28% |
Calculating the Gain: FIFO and the Complexity of Transaction Tracking
The AEAT has confirmed that the method for calculating crypto capital gains is FIFO (First In, First Out): the units deemed to be disposed of first are those acquired earliest. The acquisition price is the historical cost in euros at the time of purchase. The disposal value is the euro-equivalent at the time of sale or exchange.
The main practical difficulty is transaction tracking: an investor who has operated over several years across multiple exchanges, has swapped cryptocurrencies, has participated in staking or has used DeFi protocols may have thousands of transactions with different acquisition prices that must be tracked granularly. The loss of historical records — because an exchange closed, was hacked, or simply because the investor did not keep them — does not exempt from the obligation to declare.
Taxable Events That Are Commonly Overlooked
- Crypto-to-crypto swaps: Exchanging Bitcoin for Ethereum is a taxable disposal at the market price in euros at the time of the swap. Many investors treat these as tax-neutral.
- Staking rewards: Tokens received as staking rewards are income subject to the savings rate at the time of accrual, and their acquisition cost for future disposals is the market price on the day of receipt.
- Payments in crypto: Using Bitcoin to pay an invoice generates a capital gain or loss equal to the difference between the acquisition price and the market value at the time of payment.
- Airdrops and forks: The DGT has indicated that airdrops received without consideration may be classified as capital gains (integrated in the general base) or as financial capital income, depending on the circumstances. Hard forks generate a gain when the new coins are subsequently disposed of.
Loss Offset Rules
Capital losses from crypto assets are offset against capital gains in the same tax year (savings base). If a negative balance remains, it can be offset against up to 25% of the financial capital income in the savings base. Any remaining uncompensated balance can be carried forward for up to four years.
Losses from the savings base cannot be offset against employment income or other general base income.
Modelo 721: The Foreign Crypto Asset Declaration
Who Must File
Modelo 721 is mandatory for individuals and companies tax-resident in Spain that hold crypto assets in custody outside Spain worth more than €50,000 on 31 December of the reporting year.
Crypto assets are considered to be outside Spain when the entity holding them in custody — a centralised exchange, an institutional custodian, or a third-party wallet — is incorporated or domiciled outside Spanish territory. Crypto assets in self-custody (hardware or software wallets where the taxpayer controls the private keys) are also included when the server or node through which they are accessed is domiciled outside Spain, though this scenario is technically complex and the subject of evolving interpretations.
Crypto assets on exchanges or custodians based in Spain (such as Bit2Me, Onyze or others) fall outside the Modelo 721 obligation, as these operators file Modelos 172/173 directly with the AEAT.
When the Obligation Arises and Renews
The obligation arises when the value of crypto assets exceeds €50,000 on 31 December. Once the initial return has been filed, the obligation to file in subsequent years persists as long as the balance exceeds that threshold on that date. A re-filing is also required in the following year if the balance exceeded €50,000 at any point during the year, even if it fell back below that level by 31 December.
Valuation uses market prices in euros on 31 December.
Information Required in Modelo 721
For each type of crypto asset, the form requires identifying:
- Name and type of crypto asset (Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, etc.)
- Custodian entity or person (exchange name or wallet description)
- Number of units held
- Euro balance on 31 December
Penalty Regime
The Modelo 721 penalty regime was explicitly designed to avoid the vulnerability that led the Court of Justice of the EU to strike down part of the Modelo 720 regime in 2022 as disproportionate. The penalties are:
- €5,000 per data item or set of data relating to the same undeclared or incorrectly filed crypto asset, with a minimum of €10,000 per return
- €500 per data item for voluntary late filing without a prior AEAT request, with a minimum of €1,500
Unlike the pre-ruling Modelo 720, failure to file Modelo 721 does not automatically trigger imputation of unjustified capital gains in IRPF or the proportional penalty based on asset value. However, information obtained by the AEAT via DAC8 can be used to initiate substantive reviews of the correct taxation of crypto income.
Modelos 172 and 173: Spanish Exchange Reporting Obligations
Parallel to Modelo 721, Modelos 172 and 173 are informational returns that must be filed by crypto operators based in Spain:
-
Modelo 172: Declaration of virtual currency balances held in custody on behalf of third parties. Exchanges or custodians based in Spain must report to the AEAT, as of 31 December each year, the crypto asset balances of each client and their euro equivalent.
-
Modelo 173: Declaration of virtual currency transactions. Spanish exchanges must report all acquisition, disposal, exchange or transfer transactions carried out on behalf of clients, with details of the date, transaction type, crypto asset involved and euro equivalent.
These returns are filed in January of the year following the reporting period. Their primary function is to provide the AEAT with a complete picture of crypto activity on Spain-domiciled exchanges, which the agency can cross-reference against clients’ IRPF returns.
DAC8: The Paradigm Shift from 2026
What is DAC8?
Directive 2023/2226/EU — known as DAC8 — is the eighth amendment to the EU’s Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC) in tax matters. Its objective is to extend the automatic exchange of tax information that already existed for traditional financial accounts (implemented via DAC2/CRS) to the crypto asset ecosystem.
DAC8 requires Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) registered in any EU member state to:
- Identify the tax residence of their clients (individuals and companies) through due diligence procedures
- Collect information on the value of balances and the total amount of annual transactions for those clients
- Transmit that information to the tax authority of the EU member state in which the CASP is registered
- That member state then automatically exchanges the information with the member state of the client’s residence
Timeline and Scope
- Transposition deadline: Member states were required to transpose DAC8 into national law by 31 December 2025
- First reporting period: Tax year 2025 (data on 2025 activity exchanged in 2026)
- First effective exchange: 2026
DAC8 also extends automatic exchange to:
- E-money and fiat currency tokenisations (stablecoins)
- Investment tokens issued by EU-based entities
- NFTs of significant value
The territorial scope covers all crypto exchanges and custodians licensed or registered in any EU member state, regardless of where within the EU their clients reside. This means that a Spanish investor operating on Coinbase (registered in Ireland), Kraken (registered in Ireland), Bitstamp (Luxembourg), or any other European CASP will see their data automatically transferred to Spain’s AEAT.
What This Means for the Spanish Investor
Before DAC8 (through tax year 2024): The AEAT had information on transactions at Spanish exchanges (via Modelos 172/173) and on what the taxpayer voluntarily declared via Modelo 721. Opacity regarding activity on foreign exchanges outside Spain was relatively high.
From DAC8 onwards (tax year 2025 and beyond): The AEAT will automatically receive — without requiring any request — information on the balances and transactions of Spanish investors at European exchanges. This information will be cross-referenced with IRPF returns and Modelo 721.
The practical consequence is that investors who have not correctly declared their crypto gains, or who have not filed Modelo 721 when required, will face significantly increased risk of receiving a provisional tax assessment or becoming the subject of an audit.
Exchanges Outside the EU
DAC8 does not directly reach exchanges domiciled outside the EU (Binance Cayman Islands, OKX, Bybit, etc.). However:
- The AEAT can use information obtained via DAC8 to cross-reference it with on-chain movements and detect flows to non-European exchanges
- Modelo 721 already requires investors to declare balances on these foreign exchanges if they exceed €50,000
- The OECD has developed the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a global automatic exchange standard for crypto assets that several non-EU countries (including the UK, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore and others) are adopting in parallel to DAC8
Most Common Mistakes and Their Consequences
Mistake 1: Not Declaring Crypto-to-Crypto Swaps
Many investors do not declare exchanges between cryptocurrencies, assuming there is no “real” sale. The AEAT has confirmed in multiple binding rulings that each swap is a taxable disposal. A taxpayer who in 2024 swapped 1 BTC (acquired in 2021 for €30,000) for 18 ETH (market value: €60,000) has a capital gain of €30,000 that should have been declared in the 2024 income tax return.
Consequence: Penalty of 50–150% of the tax shortfall, plus late payment interest.
Mistake 2: Not Filing Modelo 721
A taxpayer with €80,000 on Coinbase (registered in Ireland) on 31 December 2024 was required to file Modelo 721 in January 2025. If they did not, the minimum penalty is €10,000, regardless of whether the assets were correctly declared in their income tax return.
Consequence: Fixed penalty of €5,000 per omitted data item, minimum €10,000 per return.
Mistake 3: Forgetting Staking and DeFi Rewards
Tokens received as staking rewards or from DeFi liquidity protocols are income subject to IRPF at the time of accrual. Many investors omit them because they have not “sold” anything.
Consequence: Undeclared income is classified as unjustified capital gain when detected by the AEAT, taxed at the highest marginal rate with a 150% penalty surcharge.
Mistake 4: Not Keeping a Transaction History
The loss of records from an exchange that closed or was hacked is not a valid excuse before the AEAT. The taxpayer bears the burden of proving the acquisition cost; if they cannot, the AEAT may treat the acquisition cost as zero.
Consequence: The entire sale or swap is classified as a full gain.
Mistake 5: Assuming Foreign Exchanges Do Not Report
With DAC8 in force from tax year 2025, the main European exchanges will begin automatically reporting to the AEAT. The window for voluntary regularisation at reduced penalty rates is closing rapidly.
Compliance Guide: What to Do Before the Window Closes
Step 1: Complete Crypto Asset Inventory
Build a comprehensive inventory of all digital assets held, distinguishing:
- Exchange/custodian where they are held (Spanish or foreign)
- Type of crypto asset and number of units
- Historical acquisition cost (with date and euro equivalent)
- If in self-custody, identify the nature of the wallet
Step 2: Check the Modelo 721 Obligation
Verify whether the total value of crypto assets in foreign custody exceeds €50,000 on 31 December. If the answer is yes, the return must be filed in January of the following year. It is preferable to file even if there is doubt about whether the threshold is exceeded, given that the cost of a non-filing penalty (minimum €10,000) far outweighs the cost of an unnecessary declaration (€0).
Step 3: Calculate Capital Gains and Losses for the Year
Identify all taxable disposals (sales, crypto-to-crypto swaps, payments in crypto) and calculate the gain or loss using the FIFO method. Use specialist tracking software (Koinly, CoinTracking, Accointing or similar) when transaction volumes are high.
Step 4: Review the Classification of Staking and DeFi Income
Identify all tokens received as rewards and their value in euros at the time of accrual. These must be included as financial capital income or economic activity income in the IRPF return.
Step 5: Proactively Regularise Prior Years If Needed
If prior tax years have undeclared gains, voluntary regularisation through a supplementary return or an amendment request is always less costly than the penalty proceedings that follow an AEAT-initiated audit. Voluntary filing before the AEAT begins a verification procedure reduces or eliminates penalties.
At BMC we have a specialist tax team with expertise in crypto assets and digital taxation. See our crypto tax services or contact us to review your position before the AEAT has complete data on your European exchange activity.
