How to declare cryptocurrencies in Personal Income Tax 2025

Selling or exchanging cryptocurrencies generates a capital gain or loss; if your exchange becomes insolvent, the loss goes into the general base, not the savings base.

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Who is affected?

• If you bought or sold cryptocurrencies in exchange for euros in 2025 → you must declare the capital gain or loss.
• If you exchanged one type of cryptocurrency for another different one (e.g. bitcoin for ethereum) → you must also declare it, even if no euros were involved.
• If you held crypto on an exchange that became insolvent or did not return your funds → the loss is declared in a special way and goes into the general base.
• If you hold or have held balances on foreign exchanges → you may be required to file Form 721.

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Depending on your situation

The tax treatment varies according to the type of transaction:

Very common mistake: If your exchange becomes insolvent, the loss does NOT go into the savings base. It goes into the general taxable base because there is no transfer of assets. This can make a significant difference to the rate applied.

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Key figures

The rules on cryptocurrencies do not establish specific exemption thresholds. All gains must be declared.

🔵 Full information: Forms 172 and 173 are approved by Order HFP/887/2023, of 26 July (Official State Gazette of 29 July).

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How to report it on your tax return

Spanish income tax is filed on Form D-100 — the single form approved for every taxpayer required to declare. The section where each operation is reported depends on its nature:

🔵 Where to find the exact box numbers: the specific box numbers are not set by the Practical Income Tax Manual — they are issued in the annual Order HAC that approves each year's form. When you fill in your return in Renta WEB, go to section F2 (or F1 for the bankruptcy case) and locate the sub-heading named above: the application will display the box numbers in force for the 2025 filing season.

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What you need to know

• Cryptocurrencies are intangible assets, not currency: For tax purposes, each type of cryptocurrency (bitcoin, ethereum, etc.) is a different asset. They are not legal tender.
• FIFO criterion is mandatory: When selling or exchanging crypto of the same type purchased at different times, those acquired first are deemed to be sold first (First In, First Out).
• Exchanging crypto for crypto is also taxable: Even if you never hold euros, exchanging bitcoin for ethereum is a barter transaction that generates a gain or loss at the time of the exchange.
• Exchange insolvency does not create an immediate loss: The unrecovered amount does not automatically become a loss. You must wait until specific legal conditions are met (insolvency proceedings, debt forgiveness agreement, or 1 year of court proceedings without collection).
• The loss from exchange insolvency goes into the general base: Unlike an ordinary purchase and sale, this loss does not arise from a transfer of assets, so it is integrated into the general taxable base (Art. 45 Personal Income Tax Law), not the savings base.

🟡 Proving losses on exchanges: If in an exchange between cryptocurrencies you obtain a loss, you must be able to prove it to the tax management and inspection authorities using generally accepted means of proof in law.

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Official text

📄 Official source — AEAT · Practical Income Tax Manual 2025 (verbatim reproduction, for information only).

Virtual currencies — Concept

Regarding cryptocurrencies or virtual currencies, paragraph 5 of Article 1 of Law 10/2010, of 28 April, on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism (Official State Gazette of 29 April), introduced on the occasion of the transposition of Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018, defines them as follows:

"5. Virtual currency shall mean a digital representation of value not issued or guaranteed by a central bank or public authority, not necessarily associated with a legally established currency and not possessing the legal status of currency or money, but accepted as a medium of exchange and capable of being transferred, stored or traded electronically."

Taking this definition into account, virtual currencies ("cryptocurrencies") are treated, for tax purposes, as intangible assets, computable in units or fractions of units, that are not legal tender, that can be exchanged for other assets, including other virtual currencies, rights or services, if accepted by the person or entity transferring the asset or right or providing the service, and that can generally be acquired or transferred in exchange for legal tender. Given that each virtual currency originates from a specific computer protocol, with a different scope of acceptance, different liquidity, value and denomination, different types of virtual currencies are different assets.

Information obligations relating to holding and dealing in virtual currencies

In order to improve tax control of the taxable events that may arise from holding virtual currencies and the transactions that may be carried out with them, Law 11/2021, of 9 July, on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud, amended the Personal Income Tax Law to incorporate certain information obligations that have been developed by regulations in Articles 39 bis and 39 ter of the RGAT, leading to the approval of Forms 172 and 173.

See in this regard Order HFP/887/2023, of 26 July, approving Form 172 "Information return on balances in virtual currencies" and Form 173 "Information return on transactions with virtual currencies", and establishing the conditions and procedure for their filing (Official State Gazette of 29 July).

Also developed is the obligation to report on virtual currencies held abroad, which has led to the approval of Form 721.

a) Exchange of virtual currencies for legal tender (fiat currency)

Legislation: Arts. 35, 14 and 46.b) Personal Income Tax Law

Capital gain or loss

The sale of virtual currencies in exchange for euros or other legal tender, carried out outside an economic activity, will give rise to a capital gain or loss whose amount will be determined by the difference between the respective transfer and acquisition values.

The capital gain or loss must be determined, for each sale transaction of each type of cryptocurrency, by the difference between the amount of euros obtained in the sale (unless it is less than its normal market value on the date of the sale, in which case the latter will prevail) and its acquisition amount in euros, determined, where applicable, by applying the exchange rate to euros of the currency in force on the date of acquisition of the cryptocurrency sold, taking into account the costs and taxes arising from those transactions, referred to in Article 35 of the Personal Income Tax Law, provided they are directly related to them and are paid by the taxpayer.

Identification of the currencies transferred

Cryptocurrencies of a type, computable in units or fractions of units, originate from the same computer protocol and all of the same type have the same characteristics, being identical to each other, which gives the different units or fractions of units of the cryptocurrency in question the nature of fungible and therefore homogeneous assets.

For the purposes of determining the corresponding capital gain or loss and given that the Personal Income Tax Law does not establish a specific different rule for identifying, in the case of homogeneous virtual currencies (for example, bitcoin), those deemed to be transferred, it must be considered that in the case of partial sales of virtual currencies that were acquired at different times and at different values, those transferred are those acquired first (FIFO criterion).

Temporal attribution of the capital gain or loss

In accordance with Article 14 of the Personal Income Tax Law, this occurs at the time the taxpayer delivers the virtual currencies pursuant to the purchase and sale contract, regardless of when the sale price is received, and the capital gain or loss generated must therefore be attributed to the tax period in which that delivery was made.

Class of income

The amount of capital gains or losses arising from the transfer of virtual currencies in exchange for money constitutes savings income as provided for in Article 46.b) of the Personal Income Tax Law and is integrated and offset in the savings taxable base in the manner and within the limits established in Article 49 of the same Law.

Sale transactions of virtual currencies in exchange for euros carried out outside an economic activity must be included in the Personal Income Tax return for the tax period in which those transactions were carried out, in the specific section "Capital gains and losses deriving from the transfer or exchange of virtual currencies by private individuals" of the return.

Summary:

• Capital gain or loss.
• Amount: difference between transfer value and acquisition value.
• Attributed to the year in which the currency is delivered pursuant to the purchase and sale contract.
• Savings income because it derives from the transfer of an asset.

b) Exchange of one virtual currency for a different one

Legislation: Arts. 37.1.h), 14 and 46.b) Personal Income Tax Law

Delimitation

The exchange of one virtual currency for a different virtual currency constitutes, insofar as they are different assets, a barter transaction, in accordance with the definition contained in Article 1,538 of the Civil Code, which states: "A barter is a contract by which each of the parties undertakes to give one thing in order to receive another".

Capital gain or loss

That exchange, when carried out outside an economic activity, gives rise to an alteration in the composition of the estate, since a quantity of one virtual currency is replaced by a quantity of a different virtual currency, and on the occasion of this alteration a change in the value of the estate is manifested in the value of the virtual currency acquired in relation to the value at which the virtual currency delivered in exchange was obtained.

Consequently, the exchange between different virtual currencies carried out by a taxpayer outside an economic activity gives rise to income classified as a capital gain or loss.

To quantify the capital gain or loss, the specific valuation rule for barter transactions set out in Article 37.1.h) of the Personal Income Tax Law applies, under which the capital gain or loss is determined by the difference between the acquisition value of the virtual currency delivered and the greater of the following two:

• The market value of the virtual currency delivered.
• The market value of the asset or right received in exchange.

For the purposes of subsequent transfers, the acquisition value of the virtual currencies obtained by barter will be the value that the taxpayer has taken into account under the rule set out in the aforementioned Article 37.1.h) as the transfer value in that barter.

As regards the market value corresponding to the virtual currencies exchanged in the barter, it is the value that would correspond to the price agreed for their sale between independent parties at the time of the barter.

Identification of the currencies transferred

Cryptocurrencies of a type, computable in units or fractions of units, originate from the same computer protocol and all of the same type have the same characteristics, being identical to each other, which gives the different units or fractions of units of the cryptocurrency in question the nature of homogeneous assets.

For the purposes of determining the corresponding capital gain or loss and given that the Personal Income Tax Law does not establish a specific different rule for identifying, in the case of homogeneous virtual currencies (for example, bitcoin), those deemed to be transferred, it must be considered that in the case of partial sales of virtual currencies that were acquired at different times and at different values, those transferred are those acquired first (FIFO criterion).

Temporal attribution of the gain

This attribution occurs, in accordance with Article 14 of the Personal Income Tax Law, at the time the virtual currencies are exchanged.

The capital loss that may arise from an exchange between different virtual currencies must be evidenced (upon request, where applicable, by the tax management and inspection authorities) through generally accepted means of proof in law.

Class of income

The amount of capital gains or losses from barter transactions between different virtual currencies constitutes savings income as provided for in Article 46.b) of the Personal Income Tax Law and is integrated and offset in the savings taxable base in the manner and within the limits established in Article 49 of the same Law.

Exchange transactions between virtual currencies carried out outside an economic activity must be included in the Personal Income Tax return for the tax period in which those transactions were carried out, in the section "Capital gains and losses deriving from the transfer or exchange of virtual currencies by private individuals" of the return.

Summary:

• The exchange between different virtual currencies gives rise to a capital gain or loss.
• The alteration in the estate is valued using the specific rules for barter transactions.
• The market value of the virtual currencies exchanged in the barter is the value that would correspond to the price agreed for their sale between independent parties.
• The gains or losses are savings income.

c) Capital losses from non-return of deposited currencies or from insolvency of a virtual currency trading platform

Legislation: Arts. 14.2.k) and 45 Personal Income Tax Law

In these cases, the amount of an uncollected credit does not automatically constitute a capital loss, since the creditor retains their right of credit, and the special temporal attribution rule set out in Article 14.2.k) of the Personal Income Tax Law for such cases of uncollected credits must be applied.

Temporal attribution of the loss

Under Article 14.2.k) of the Personal Income Tax Law the capital losses deriving from credits that have fallen due and have not been collected may be attributed to the tax period in which any of the following circumstances occurs:

1. A debt forgiveness arrangement established in a judicially enforceable refinancing agreement within the meaning of Article 71 bis and the fourth additional provision of Law 22/2003, of 9 July, on Insolvency, or in an out-of-court payment agreement within the meaning of Title X of the same Law, becomes effective.
2. The debtor being in insolvency proceedings, the arrangement under which a debt forgiveness of the credit is agreed in accordance with Article 133 of Law 22/2003, of 9 July, on Insolvency, becomes effective, in which case the loss is computed for the amount of the debt forgiveness. Otherwise, the insolvency proceedings conclude without the credit having been satisfied, except where the conclusion of the insolvency is agreed on the grounds referred to in paragraphs 1, 4 and 5 of Article 176 of Law 22/2003, of 9 July, on Insolvency.
3. One year has elapsed since the commencement of court proceedings other than insolvency proceedings aimed at enforcing the credit without it having been satisfied.

When the credit is collected after the capital loss referred to in this paragraph k) is computed, a capital gain for the amount collected is attributed to the tax period in which that collection occurs.

Class of income

Since this is a capital loss that has not been manifested on the occasion of transfers of assets, it will form part of general income and must be integrated into the general taxable base of Personal Income Tax (Articles 45 and 48 of the Personal Income Tax Law).

Summary:

• The amount of an uncollected credit that has fallen due does not constitute a capital loss.
• The special temporal attribution rule set out in Article 14.2.k) of the Personal Income Tax Law applies for such cases of uncollected credits.
• It will form part of general income and must be integrated into the general taxable base of Personal Income Tax.

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Frequently asked questions

Do I have to declare if I exchange bitcoin for ethereum without converting to euros?

Yes. The exchange between different cryptocurrencies is a barter transaction and generates a capital gain or loss at the time of the exchange, even if you receive no euros. It is declared in the section "Capital gains and losses deriving from the transfer or exchange of virtual currencies by private individuals".

If I hold bitcoin from different purchases and sell part, which ones are deemed to be sold?

Those acquired first (FIFO criterion). For example, if you bought 1 BTC in January and 1 BTC in March, and you sell 1 BTC in November, the one from January is deemed to be sold. This criterion is mandatory according to the AEAT guide and applies by type of cryptocurrency.

My exchange became insolvent and did not return my funds. When can I declare the loss?

You cannot declare the loss immediately. You must wait until any of the following circumstances occurs: (1) a debt forgiveness arrangement in a refinancing agreement or insolvency proceedings becomes effective, (2) the insolvency proceedings conclude without collection, or (3) one year elapses from the commencement of court enforcement proceedings without collection. Furthermore, this loss is integrated into the general taxable base, not the savings base.

Am I required to file Form 721?

Form 721 is the information return on balances in virtual currencies held abroad. The guide refers for further information to the frequently asked questions document on those forms published by the AEAT. Consult the thresholds and conditions at sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es.

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Staking, lending and yield: income from movable capital

Legal basis: Art. 25 Personal Income Tax Law (Law 35/2006)

When you lock cryptocurrencies in a protocol in exchange for a known or agreed return (staking with a fixed APR, lending, yield farming with an agreed interest), the resulting income fits within the general concept of income from movable capital defined in Article 25 of the Personal Income Tax Law (LIRPF):

«The following shall be considered gross income from movable capital: […] 2. Income obtained from the transfer to third parties of own capital. Considered as such are payments of any kind, whatever their name or nature, in cash or in kind, such as interest and any other form of remuneration agreed as compensation for such transfer […]»

— Art. 25.2 LIRPF (BOE-A-2006-20764, consolidated text)

Practical implications:

• Rewards are integrated into the savings taxable base (Art. 46 LIRPF) and taxed under the savings scale: 19 % / 21 % / 23 % / 27 % / 30 % in 2025.
• The timing of accrual is the moment when the crypto rewards are received (Art. 14.1.a LIRPF).
• The value of the crypto received is its market value in euros on the delivery date.
• That same value becomes the acquisition value of the received crypto for any subsequent sale or exchange.

🟡 Grey-zone doctrine

The precise classification of each DeFi product under Art. 25 LIRPF vs Art. 33 LIRPF (capital gain) depends on its economic nature. The Practical Guide to Personal Income Tax 2025 does not detail staking, yield farming or lending. The living doctrine is in the Binding Consultations of the General Tax Directorate (DGT) — notably V0975-22 on staking and V1604-24 on DeFi liquidity. Review them for your specific case.

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Crypto mining: economic activity vs occasional gain

Legal basis: Art. 27 LIRPF

Article 27 LIRPF defines when income qualifies as economic activity:

«Income from economic activities shall be deemed to be that which, deriving from personal work and capital jointly, or from only one of these factors, involves the self-employed organisation by the taxpayer of means of production and human resources, or one of the two, with the purpose of intervening in the production or distribution of goods or services. In particular, the following are considered as such: income from extractive, manufacturing, commercial or service activities, including handicraft, agricultural, forestry, livestock, fishing, construction, and mining activities […]»

— Art. 27.1 LIRPF (BOE-A-2006-20764, consolidated text)

If you organise resources (ASIC hardware, a mining farm, electricity contracts, hired staff) regularly and with the aim of recurring profit:

• The net income is integrated into the general taxable base (Art. 45 LIRPF), taxed under the general scale (19 %–47 %) — not the savings rate.
• You can deduct expenses: electricity, hardware depreciation, internet, maintenance.
• You must register as self-employed (RETA + business census via Form 036/037) and apply VAT if you exceed the thresholds.

If mining is occasional and not organised (a single home rig, no continuity intention), it would qualify as a capital gain (Art. 33 LIRPF) integrated into the general base. The border is regularity + organisation of means.

🔴 Mind the threshold

This classification has very different income tax and social security implications. The DGT has confirmed the qualification as an economic activity in professional setups (consultation V1029-15 and later). For borderline cases, seek a binding consultation or professional advice.

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Form 721: virtual currencies abroad

Legal basis: 13th Additional Provision (DA 13ª), paragraphs 6 and 7, LIRPF · Order HFP/886/2023

The information obligation on crypto custodied or exchanged abroad stems directly from the Law:

«6. Persons and entities resident in Spain and permanent establishments in Spanish territory of non-resident persons or entities that provide services to safeguard third parties' private cryptographic keys, to maintain, store and transfer virtual currencies […] shall be obliged to provide the Tax Administration […] with information on the totality of the virtual currencies they hold in custody.»

«7. […] that provide services for the exchange of virtual currencies for legal tender or between different virtual currencies, or that intermediate in any way in the carrying out of such transactions, […] shall be obliged […] to communicate to the Tax Administration the acquisition, transmission, exchange and transfer transactions relating to virtual currencies […]»

— DA 13ª, paragraphs 6 and 7, LIRPF (text consolidated by Law 11/2021)

This legal mandate materialises in three forms:

🔵 Form 721 filing window

Filed between 1 January and 31 March of the year following the reporting year. Approved by Order HFP/886/2023, of 26 July (Official State Gazette of 29 July).

🟡 NFTs

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are not virtual currencies under the definition in Art. 1.5 of Law 10/2010 that the Income Tax Practical Guide uses — they are unique intangible goods. Their IRPF treatment follows the general rules of Art. 33 LIRPF (capital gain/loss on the difference between transmission and acquisition value), but they are not reported in Form 721. For minting / primary creation, a DGT consultation is advisable.

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Legislation

Law 35/2006, on Personal Income Tax (LIRPF) — BOE-A-2006-20764 consolidated

• Arts. 35, 14 and 46.b) — Purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies for fiat currency
• Arts. 37.1.h), 14 and 46.b) — Exchange (barter) between different cryptocurrencies
• Arts. 14.2.k) and 45 — Losses from insolvency or non-return by platform
• Art. 25 — Staking, lending, yield (income from movable capital)
• Art. 27 — Mining as economic activity
• Art. 33 — General regime of capital gains and losses (applies to airdrops and NFTs)
• Arts. 45 and 48 — Integration in general taxable base
• Art. 49 — Integration and compensation in savings taxable base
• DA 13ª, paragraphs 6 and 7 — Information obligations on virtual currencies (legal basis for Forms 172, 173 and 721)

Regulatory development and approval of forms

• Law 11/2021, of 9 July — Introduces the information obligations into the LIRPF
• Order HFP/886/2023, of 26 July — Approves Form 721
• Order HFP/887/2023, of 26 July — Approves Forms 172 and 173
• Arts. 39 bis and 39 ter of the RGAT (RD 1065/2007) — Regulatory development

Other relevant rules

• Law 10/2010, of 28 April, Art. 1.5 — Definition of virtual currency
• Law 22/2003, of 9 July, on Insolvency — Conditions for attributing losses from uncollected claims