Tax Advisory for Crypto Assets.

Under Spanish IRPF: if you haven't sold them (nor swapped them, nor received rewards), there is no capital gain to report.

However, there may still be a reporting obligation: if your aggregate crypto balance on foreign exchanges exceeds 50,000 EUR at year-end, Form 721 is mandatory even if you carried out no transactions during the year.

Yes. The Spanish tax authority considers a swap between two crypto assets to be a sale followed by a purchase. This means the USDT is "sold" at market value and the difference from its acquisition price generates a capital gain or loss. The loss can be offset against other gains in the same tax year (subject to specific rules).

There are three routes:

• Voluntary supplementary return: the most advantageous option. The unbarred tax years (last 4) are filed with progressive surcharges depending on the delay. No penalty if there has been no prior information request.
• Tax authority information request: if the administration has already begun proceedings, full penalties apply (50%-150% on the tax not paid, with reductions).
• Inspection proceedings: the worst-case scenario, with maximum penalties and possible referral as a tax offence if the amount exceeds 120,000 EUR per tax year.

With DAC 8 now in force, the first route is clearly preferable.

For Form 721 purposes, an exchange is foreign if it is not registered in Spain. The major global exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, etc.) have complex structures: even if they have a Spanish subsidiary for some services, the actual wallets are usually located in foreign jurisdictions.

The position of the DGT (Spanish tax ruling office) in recent rulings is that the balance is considered foreign if the service provider holding the keys is located outside Spain. Each case must be analysed individually.

The current administrative position is that self-custodied wallets (where the user controls the keys) fall outside the scope of Form 721, because there is no foreign third-party custodian. That interpretation may change and there are contradictory rulings.

A prudent recommendation: document self-custody holdings and report them if the amount is material, even if they do not formally fit within Form 721.

DAC 8 is the eighth amendment to the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation in tax matters. Applicable from 1 January 2026, it requires all crypto service providers operating in the EU (exchanges, custodians, DeFi platforms with an identifiable presence) to report to tax authorities the transactions and balances of their clients resident in any Member State.

For the taxpayer: whatever your exchange knows about you, the tax authority now knows automatically.

Tax residence is not a matter of choice: it is determined by objective facts (days of presence, centre of vital interests, permanent home). Moving it artificially can lead to serious problems.

It is legitimate to plan residence in advance when you have genuine flexibility: planning the exit from Spain with prior realisation of gains, opting for special regimes where they apply, assessing jurisdictions with more favourable treatment. But each case requires individual analysis and precise technical execution.

Yes. Capital losses from crypto are first offset against gains of the same type (other savings products) in the same tax year. Any excess is offset against 25% of the positive balance of income from movable capital. Anything still remaining can be offset against gains in the following 4 tax years.

There are specific anti-abuse rules: if you repurchase the same crypto within two months (crypto on regulated markets) or one year (others), the loss is not recognised until the definitive sale.