Declaring Bitcoin and other crypto assets on your tax return

Cryptocurrencies are digital means of exchange that aren’t guaranteed by a central or official counterparty such as a bank. Most crypto transactions are made on ‘crypto exchanges’, where you use cash to buy cryptocurrencies and exchange them for other cryptocurrencies. You can also ‘mine’ for cryptocurrencies. 

Some cryptocurrencies are pegged to another currency such as dollars or euros, making their value relatively stable. These are known as ‘stablecoins’. Other cryptocurrencies can experience huge fluctuations in value. Many popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, went up in value in 2024. This was for various reasons, one being the re-election of former US president Donald Trump. 

As cryptocurrencies are highly speculative, they are considered a very high-risk investment. Please seek advice on the financial risks of investing in crypto.

Crypto assets are taxed differently depending on your situation. Usually, they’ll be taxed in box 3 (income from savings and investment) of your income tax return. This will be the case if you hold your crypto assets as a personal investment. This article will explain other situations as well. 

Crypto assets that you hold as private investments usually need to be declared in box 3 of your income tax return. If your box 3 assets on 1 January 2024 were higher than €57,000 (as an individual) or €114,000 (as tax partners), you pay tax on income above that threshold. On your income tax return, you declare your crypto assets according to their trading value at midnight of 1 January of the tax year in question. To illustrate: if you’re filing your 2024 income tax return, you take the value at midnight on 1 January 2024 based on the exchange rate of the exchange platform you used. 

Following several rulings by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, box 3 is currently subject to a dual regime. You can opt for your assets to be taxed according to their notional (assumed) rate of return or according to their actual rate of return, according to the Supreme Court’s definition, depending on which leads to a lower tax burden for you. 

• If you opt for the assumed rate of return, your crypto assets will be taxed as ‘other assets’ (overige bezittingen). Stablecoins are also considered ‘other assets’ and not ‘bank balances’ (banktegoeden). In 2024, ‘other assets’ are taxed according to an assumed rate of return of 6.04%. With taxable income from savings and investment taxed at 36%, the tax burden on the value of your crypto assets held on 1 January 2024 would be over 2%. If you acquired your crypto assets after that date, say 15 April, they’re not taken into account when calculating your assumed return for 2024. However, if you owned crypto assets on 1 January and sold them later in the year, they are taxed in box 3 for that tax year. 
• As mentioned, you can opt for your assets to be taxed according to the actual rate of return if this is lower than the assumed rate of return. In mid-2025, the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration is expected to publish a form for taxpayers to state their choice: the ‘Actual Return Statement’ (Opgaaf Werkelijk Rendement). You must make a choice each tax year, and that choice applies to all of your box 3 assets. 

If you choose to be taxed on the actual return, you cannot deduct your tax-free allowance from your total assets. The assumed rates will not apply, and you can declare the actual return in box 3. This includes direct and indirect returns as well as realised and unrealised gains from selling assets. If your crypto assets have increased in value, you will pay 36% tax on the value increase. If they have achieved percentage gains of 20%, for example, you would usually choose to be taxed according to the assumed rate of return. If they have achieved percentage gains of 5%, you can pay tax according to the actual rate of return of 5%. If they achieved losses or zero gains, this does not result in a negative amount of tax in box 3. You may deduct the loss only from the returns from your remaining assets in box 3. You may not deduct a loss from other tax years.

In certain situations, you’ll need to declare income or gains from your crypto assets in box 1 (income from work and home ownership) of your income tax return. This is usually the case if your activities extend beyond ‘just’ investing. The facts and circumstances play a decisive role in this respect. For instance, the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration often does not require you to declare rewards from crypto mining. The case may be different if you regularly earn additional income from additional work on top of your investment activities. This could be work as an active crypto trader who spends a lot of time researching crypto, or who actively builds a network as a means of investing early in newly launched cryptocurrencies. 

If you’re more than ‘just’ an investor, you may need to declare that income as income from other work or as business profits. In that case, you would declare this income in box 1 (income from work and home ownership) of your tax return. The profit is subject to incremental tax, the highest band being 49.5%, on your 2024 income tax return. It’s a good idea to seek advice from a tax adviser who is knowledgeable about cryptocurrencies and assets.

You may also hold crypto assets as a limited company (besloten vennootschap, BV) rather than as a private individual. In that case, you do not need to declare those assets in box 3. Instead, you’ll place them in box 2 of your income tax return (income from substantial interests) and pay corporate income tax. As a rule, you have a ‘substantial interest’ if you own at least 5% of the shares in a limited company. 

Gains from corporate crypto assets are subject to between 19% and 25.8% corporate income tax after deduction of costs. If the profit is then paid out to you as a shareholder, you will pay 24.5% to 33% income tax on that amount in 2024. Furthermore, a director-major shareholder of a limited company is obliged to pay themselves a ‘market-level’ salary from the business as compensation for the time and work they put into making the business profitable. This salary falls into box 1.

Crypto assets are taxed differently depending on your situation. If you’re closely involved in crypto as an individual, do more than just invest or hold crypto as a limited company, you should seek advice from a tax adviser.