Note: In this article, we provide you with an overview of the Austrian tax regime for crypto assets, who is subject to this regime, and how the rules are applied on our platform. The tax implications of investing in crypto assets depend on your personal tax situation. The information provided in this article is not to be considered and should not be relied upon as tax, legal, or investment advice. It does not replace advice provided by a qualified tax advisor.

Why does Bybit EU deduct withholding taxes for customers in Austria?

Austria has adopted a withholding tax regime for income from certain investments in crypto assets. According to Austrian tax legislation, Bybit EU is obliged to calculate and withhold taxes on income derived from crypto assets if the user is subject to unlimited tax liability in Austria (Austrian tax residents). Information on the withholding tax regime can be found here.

Who is subject to withholding tax in Austria?

Individuals who have a domicile or habitual abode in Austria are subject to unlimited income tax in Austria and, as Austrian tax residents, are subject to Austrian withholding tax on crypto assets.

• Domicile: A permanent home available for your own use under circumstances indicating that you will retain and use it.

• Habitual abode: Regular and prolonged physical presence in Austria, typically for at least 6 months within a calendar year.

 

However, if your center of vital interests is (and has been for the last 5 years) outside Austria and you only maintain a secondary residence in the country — meaning the home is used for no more than 70 days per year — it may not be treated as a residence for tax purposes. If this applies to you, please update your tax residency on your Account Info Settings or contact our Customer Support if you have any further doubts.

How is it determined whether you are considered subject to withholding tax in Austria?

We collect information relevant to determining whether you are considered an Austrian tax resident, in line with Austrian administrative practice. The assessment is based on your nationality, Proof of Identity (POI), or Residence Country (RC) provided during the identity verification process:

• If your nationality, POI, or RC is from Austria, you will be treated as an Austrian resident and subject to withholding tax.

• If your nationality, POI, or RC is from a neighboring country (i.e., Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, or Italy), you will be treated as a potential Austrian resident. In this case, you will be required to declare your tax status before using the taxable services.

• If your nationality, POI, and RC are not from any of the above-mentioned countries, you will be treated as a non-Austrian resident.

 

If your circumstances change, you can change your tax residence in your Account Info Settings. If any doubts remain, you can contact customer support.

When will the tax engine affect me?

If you are an Austrian tax resident and have registered your Account on or after 12 September 2025, the tax engine is already in effect for you.

 

If you are an Austrian tax resident and have registered your Account before 12 September 2025, the tax engine will become effective before the end of 2025 for you.

If you are not an Austrian Tax resident, the tax engine will not affect you.

Why can I not use certain services?

Certain features of our Tax Engine are scheduled to be launched later this year. Due to the complexity of the Austrian withholding tax regime, additional time is required to implement certain functionalities, such as exit tax features.

If an exit tax event occurs before the exit tax feature is live, certain relevant services will be temporarily restricted.

What services are included in the taxable services?

Taxable services include all products and services that involve Crypto-to-Fiat conversions and Earnings. These include:

• One click sell (to fiat balance) 

• Convert (Crypto assets to Fiat)

• Spot Trading (when selling crypto assets for fiat in fiat trading pairs)

• Earn

• Bybit Card

 

Note: In addition to the above, Spot Margin, Crypto Loan, and Launchpool will remain restricted for Austrian tax residents even after the Tax Engine goes live.

My circumstances have changed. How can I change my tax residence?

If your circumstances change, you have to update your tax residence in your Account Info Settings. Your tax residency change will be effective immediately after confirmation.

 

Changing your tax residence from another country to Austria or from Austria to another country may have withholding tax consequences (e.g. exit taxation). We therefore encourage you to seek advice from a qualified tax advisor on your personal tax situation.

How are crypto assets taxed in Austria?

Austria has implemented a special tax regime that applies to certain income from crypto assets. In general, capital gains and current income from crypto assets are taxed at a tax rate of 27.5%. Crypto-crypto exchanges are generally tax-neutral. For taxable transactions, Bybit EU is obliged to perform a calculation, withholding, and remitting of Austrian taxes to the tax authorities on your behalf. This includes certain transactions, where you use crypto assets to make payments for services or goods.

Austria has implemented a special tax regime that applies to certain income from crypto assets. In general, capital gains and current income from crypto assets are taxed at a tax rate of 27.5%. Crypto-crypto exchanges are generally considered tax-neutral. Bybit EU is obliged to perform a calculation, withholding, and remitting of Austrian taxes to the tax authorities on your behalf. More detailed information will be shared once the tax engine is finalized and launched on Bybit EU.

As an Austrian tax resident, do I have tax reporting duties in Austria?

The tax consequences of your investments on our platform depend on your tax situation. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified tax advisor to ensure full compliance with your tax obligations.

 

As a general rule, for Austrian individuals, withholding tax deducted in Austria has a final effect. This means you typically do not need to report income that is already subject to Austrian withholding tax in your personal income tax return.

 

However, in some situations outlined by law, the withholding tax deducted by Bybit EU may not have a final effect—for example:

• If in the WHT handling process, the acquisition cost of a sold crypto asset is unknown or incorrect

• If you relocate to or from Austria

• Or in other specific cases

 

In these situations, you may be required to declare the relevant income in your personal tax return. Please note that not all benefits or rewards earned on our platform fall within the scope of the Austrian withholding tax regime. Some of these may still be subject to income tax or other obligations, and you are solely responsible for:

• Declaring such income to the relevant authorities

• Paying any applicable taxes

 

We encourage you to seek advice from a qualified tax advisor to ensure full compliance with all filing and payment requirements.

Will I receive a tax report at the end of the year?

An aggregated tax reporting will be available to you on an annual basis. The annual tax reporting will be compiled after the end of each calendar year and will be available to you on the Account Overview → Tax Center after the feature is launched.

I have moved to Austria from another country – do I have to provide acquisition data?

If you were already a user when changing your tax residency to Austria, we will treat all crypto assets held at that time as “new assets” and as such as taxable assets. We will use the market value of the asset at the time of the notification of your relocation to Austria as acquisition costs for any subsequent taxable event.

 

In case you have grandfathered assets (“old assets”) in your account, you may provide evidence of the acquisition data in your Austrian tax return towards the Austrian Tax Authorities and may claim a refund of the deducted withholding tax for such assets.

You may also need to include taxable events in your income tax return, even if withholding tax has been deducted by us, depending on your personal circumstances.

We encourage you to seek advice from a qualified tax advisor on your personal tax situation.

How does the tax deduction on my crypto income work?

When you realize income on our platform (e.g., receive certain rewards or sell crypto to fiat), we will deduct a portion of the proceeds and reserve this amount for tax payment. 

 

This means you will be immediately credited with the proceeds net of the funds reserved for tax. Generally, the funds reserved for tax will amount to 27.5% of the gross proceeds.

 

Subsequently, the appropriate amount of tax will be determined. If the appropriate amount of tax is lower than the amount deducted from the gross proceeds, the excess deduction will be credited to you (“tax calculation credit”). In your transaction history, you will separately see the credit of your net proceeds and the tax calculation credit, once the tax calculation has been performed.

 

Calculating the appropriate tax may take up to two calendar days beginning with the taxable event for each transaction. Hence, you may see the tax calculation credit delayed from the transaction it relates to.

How does the tax deduction on my crypto income work for different types of income?

For certain current income (e.g. from rewards service) your income is taxable upon receiving crypto assets from us. The tax is generally immediately deducted upon crediting your rewards to you (i.e. reducing the crypto you receive from us). In some cases, the ongoing loss-offsetting mechanism (see below) will lead to a reduction of the amount of tax due. In this case we will credit you with the calculated amount in crypto (tax calculation credit - see above).

 

In case of a sale or deemed sale (e.g. upon a crypto to fiat exchange), we will calculate the appropriate amount of tax on your capital gains based on your tax acquisition costs within two calendar days. For the time of this calculation process, we will deduct an amount equaling 27.5% of your sales proceeds as funds reserved for tax. Upon determining the appropriate tax, any amounts previously deducted in excess will be credited to your account.

 

Certain of our services do not lead to immediate taxation upon you receiving crypto assets from us (e.g. so called “Bounties” or “Airdrops”). Crypto-assets received via such transactions are usually taxed upon you selling them (e.g., in a crypto to fiat exchange), whereas they are considered to be acquired at acquisition costs of zero and will be included in the calculation of the average acquisition price of your overall position of the relevant crypto asset.

In what currency will the tax be deducted?

Tax calculations have to be performed in EUR. We will deduct the funds reserved for tax and perform the tax calculation credit in the currency that you have exchanged your crypto assets for.

 

If the tax is deducted in crypto, the crypto assets used to pay for the tax are also deemed to be sold for tax purposes. Hence, we are obliged to withhold tax on the realized increase in their value.

Is tax deducted for all sales of my crypto?

Not all sales are subject to withholding tax. In fact, only units of crypto assets acquired after 28 February 2021 (“new assets”) are subject to withholding tax. Cryptocurrencies acquired before this date are treated as “old assets” and are therefore not covered by the cryptocurrency tax regime. However, we will also deduct funds reserved for tax upon the sale of old assets and perform a full refund of this amount, after the tax calculation has been completed (see above).

 

In case the acquisition date of your crypto is unknown to us (e.g. for deposited crypto), we are obliged by law to treat the realization taxable and assume a capital gain in the amount of 50% of the sales proceeds for tax purposes. You have to include such capital gains in your annual income tax return and provide evidence of the actual acquisition dates and/or costs.

 

According to Austrian tax rules, if you exchange old assets (acquired before 1 March 2021) for other crypto assets, the received crypto assets are considered new assets. We will consider the market price of the date of the exchange to determine your tax acquisition costs for such new assets.

I have deposited crypto – why can I not trade with them?

In order to perform the withholding tax calculations, we need to know the tax acquisition data of your deposited crypto (i.e., acquisition date and acquisition cost). Until you have provided us with the relevant information, trading with your deposited crypto assets is restricted. You can provide us with the relevant data in your Funding Account History.

 

You may also choose not to disclose your acquisition data (e.g., if you do not have the information) and immediately start trading with these crypto assets. In this case, we are however, obliged by law to treat the realization taxable and assume a capital gain in the amount of 50% of the sales proceeds for withholding tax purposes. You have to include such capital gains in your annual income tax return and provide evidence of the actual acquisition costs.

 

Please note that your decision with respect to providing information on acquisition data is irrevocable and may not be changed at a later point in time.

I have deposited crypto – how can I declare tax acquisition data?

You can provide your tax acquisition data by selecting the relevant deposit in your funding account history in the tab "Pending Assets". By law, we are required to perform plausibility checks based on market price data to accept the information provided by you. We have integrated this check in the declaration process.

 

You can only declare one acquisition date and acquisition price per deposit. In case you have acquired deposited crypto asset position over time, we suggest you split up the deposits to our platform accordingly.

I have deposited crypto prior to the tax engine go-live – what happens if I don’t declare tax acquisition data?

If you have deposited crypto assets prior to the go-live of the tax engine, we will request the declaration of tax acquisition data. You will be given the opportunity to declare the tax acquisition data within 60 days following our prompt. If you do not provide us with tax acquisition data by the end of this period, we will deem the tax acquisition data to be unknown for the purpose of calculating and deducting tax. In this case, when you sell such assets we will apply the statutory lump-sum method: the realization will be treated as taxable and we will assume a capital gain in the amount of 50% of the sales proceeds for tax purposes. You will need to include these capital gains in your annual income tax return and provide evidence of the actual acquisition dates and/or costs if you wish to deviate from the lump-sum method.

I have deposited old assets and also have new assets – how is the tax upon a sale calculated?

If you have both crypto assets acquired before 1 March 2021 (“old assets”) and units of the same crypto asset acquired after 28 February 2021 (“new assets”) we will apply the First-In-First-Out principle based on the tax acquisition date to calculate the tax. 

As such, will deem old assets to be sold, transferred, or otherwise realized first.

If you also have deposited assets with unknown acquisition cost or acquisition date, the following order of consumption will be followed:

1. Old assets

2. Assets with unknown acquisition costs/date

3. New assets

 

This order of consumption is binding for the assets on our platform and cannot be modified, not even in your tax return. The order of consumption will also be followed in our tax calculations in case you withdraw, transfer, or realize your crypto, even if the transaction itself might not trigger tax.

Illustrative Example 1

You are an Austrian resident and hold 6 units of Ethereum (“ETH”):

• 1 ETH as old asset with acquisition costs of EUR 200 per unit

• 2 ETH with unknown acquisition costs/date (“lump sum asset”)

• 3 ETH as new asset with acquisition costs of EUR 80 per unit

 

In 2025, you decide to sell 4 units of ETH for a total of EUR 400 (EUR 100 sales proceeds per unit of ETH).

 

According to the order of consumption, first the old asset is deemed to be sold, followed by the two ETH with lumpsum acquisition costs, and lastly one unit of the new asset ETH. The withholding tax resulting from the sale of the 4 ETH is calculated as follows:

 

Illustrative Example 2

You are an Austrian resident and hold 6 units of Ethereum (“ETH”):

• 1 ETH as old asset with acquisition costs of EUR 200 per unit

• 2 ETH with unknown acquisition costs/date (“lump sum asset”)

• 3 ETH as new asset with acquisition costs of EUR 80 per unit

 

In 2025, you withdraw 2 units of ETH from our platform. According to the order of consumption, first, the old asset is deemed to be withdrawn, followed by one unit of the lump sum asset.

 

After the withdrawal, your residual ETH position for the purpose of the tax calculation is as follows:

 

How does investing in reward-generating products affect the order of consumption?

As an exception to the general order of consumption, we will apply the Last-In-First-Out-Principle to determine which assets you have invested in reward-generating products (e.g, Rewards service, Earn, Launchpool). As such, we will deem the new assets to be invested first.

 

If you also have deposited assets with unknown acquisition cost, unknown acquisition date, or old assets, the following order of consumption will be followed for invested units:

1. New assets

2. Assets with unknown acquisition costs/date (“lump sum asset”)

3. Old assets

Illustrative Example

You are an Austrian resident and hold 6 units of Ethereum (“ETH”):

• 1 ETH as old asset

• 2 ETH with unknown acquisition costs/date (“lump sum asset”)

• 3 ETH as new asset

 

In 2025, you invest 4 units of ETH in rewards service for a term of 1 month. Three days later, you decide to sell the remaining 2 units of ETH for a total of EUR 200 (EUR 100 sales proceeds per unit of ETH).

 

According to the order of consumption, we first consider your 3 new assets, followed by 1 ETH with lumpsum acquisition costs to be invested in the Rewards service.

For purposes of determining which units are sold, we will first consider the old assets, followed by the ETH with unknown acquisition costs, as sold. The withholding tax resulting from the sale of the 2 ETH is calculated as follows:

 

For the purpose of the tax calculation, your residual ETH position is as follows:

 

How are losses treated for tax purposes?

Under the Austrian crypto tax regime, losses and positive income within one calendar year can generally be offset within certain limitations. For tax purposes, we constantly monitor the amount of the relevant positive income and losses you have incurred in the same calendar year when performing the tax calculation. Due to the automatic loss-offset, you may therefore receive a tax calculation credit that exceeds the previously deducted amount of funds reserved for tax.

Why is the deducted tax higher than my capital gain?

In case of a taxable sale or deemed sale, we will calculate the appropriate amount of tax within two calendar days. For the time of this calculation process, we will deduct an amount equal to 27.5% of your gross proceeds as funds reserved for tax. Upon determining the appropriate tax, any amounts previously deducted in excess will be credited to your account (tax calculation credit).

I have crypto on different sub-accounts – how does this affect the tax calculations?

All your crypto asset positions on our platform are held in one account. For tax calculation purposes, we therefore consider your total holdings of each crypto asset for tax purposes, regardless of which sub-account they are shown on our platform. This refers to both the order of consumption and the calculation of the average price relevant for determining your taxable capital gains.

Illustrative Example 1

You are an Austrian resident and hold 5 units of Ethereum (“ETH”) on your Unified Trading Account (“UTA”). These 5 units are new assets that you have acquired with tax acquisition costs of EUR 100 per unit (in total: EUR 500). You acquire an additional 5 units of ETH on your funding account for EUR 200 per unit (in total EUR 1,000). Two months later, you decide to sell 2 units of ETH on your funding account and 2 units of ETH on your UTA for EUR 250 per unit (total proceeds of: EUR 500 on your funding account and UTA each).

 

The withholding tax resulting from the sale of the 2 ETH is calculated as follows:

 

Illustrative Example 2

You are an Austrian resident and hold 5 units of Ethereum (“ETH”) on your Unified Trading Account (“UTA”). These 5 units are old assets that you have acquired with tax acquisition costs of EUR 100 per unit (in total: EUR 500). You acquire an additional 5 units of ETH on your funding account against EUR 200 per unit (in total EUR 1,000). Two months later, you decide to sell 2 units of ETH on your funding account and 2 units of ETH on your UTA against EUR 250 per unit (total proceeds of: EUR 500 on your funding account and UTA each).

 

The withholding tax resulting from the sale of the 2 ETH is calculated as follows:

For the purpose of the tax calculation, your residual ETH position is as follows: