DAC8: The European Tax Authorities Have Known About Your Crypto Assets since 2026

The DAC8 Directive (Directive 2023/2226/EU — Directive on Administrative Cooperation 8) amends the EU Administrative Cooperation Directive to require automatic exchange of information on crypto assets between EU tax authorities. Crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) — exchanges, custodial wallet providers, trading platforms and other intermediaries — have been required to report transaction data for their EU-resident users to their Member State's tax authority from 1 January 2026. This data is then automatically shared between EU tax authorities. The practical consequence is that the AEAT now has, or will shortly have, comprehensive information on the crypto-asset transactions of Spanish taxpayers conducted through CASP platforms, making non-declaration of crypto gains progressively more difficult to sustain without significant legal and financial risk.

What DAC8 means for Spanish crypto investors

For Spanish individuals and companies that have traded in crypto assets, DAC8 represents a fundamental change in the risk landscape. Previously, the absence of systematic reporting by exchanges created an information asymmetry that, in practice, reduced the likelihood of AEAT detecting undeclared crypto gains. From 2026, that asymmetry is eliminated for transactions conducted through CASP platforms.

The optimal response for investors with undeclared crypto positions is voluntary regularisation before the first AEAT notifications arrive. Voluntary regularisation — whether through supplementary tax returns or rectification of self-assessments — carries significantly lower penalties than regularisation triggered by an AEAT inspection, and avoids the risk of criminal liability for tax fraud if the undeclared amounts exceed €120,000 in any single year.

Implications for CASP providers

For crypto-asset service providers operating in or serving users in the EU, DAC8 creates new operational obligations: implementing DAC8-compliant KYC/KYB identification processes for all users, maintaining transaction records in the required format, and submitting annual reports to the relevant Member State’s tax authority. Providers without an EU establishment that serve EU residents may also be subject to these obligations depending on their specific structure and user base.

This service is part of our compliance and tax advisory practice.