DAC8: first crypto-asset tax reports exchanged

DAC8 is the eighth amendment to the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC), the law under which national tax authorities exchange information. It requires crypto-asset service providers to collect tax data on their users and report their transactions, so that each user's home tax authority learns about them (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).

The reporting covers transactions from 1 January 2026. Tax authorities exchange the first year of data by 30 September 2027 (European Commission (external site)).

Before DAC8, the automatic exchange of information under the DAC covered categories such as financial accounts, but crypto-asset transactions had no reporting channel of their own (EUR-Lex summary (external site)).

Now providers authorised under MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) are in scope. Crypto-asset operators without MiCA authorisation that serve EU users register in one single Member State to report there (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).

Each provider runs due diligence on its users. A new individual user gives a self-certification, a signed statement of tax residence, when the relationship starts; for users who were already customers, the deadline is 1 January 2027 (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).

The self-certification states the user's name, address, date of birth, Member State of tax residence and tax identification number (TIN). The provider checks it against other information it holds, such as customer due diligence records (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).

Once a year, the provider reports to its tax authority, which passes the data on within nine months after the end of the calendar year (European Commission (external site)).

As an example, a user resident in Italy who trades on a platform registered in Ireland appears in that platform's report to the Irish tax authority. The Irish authority then sends the data to Italy (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).

The obligation falls on reporting crypto-asset service providers, including banks and investment firms that offer crypto-asset services (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)). The roles most directly concerned:

• Tax Associate: the annual report to the tax authority and its national deadline become a fixed task.
• KYC Analyst: onboarding of individual users includes the tax self-certification and the TIN.
• Corporate Onboarding Analyst (KYC): entity users give their own self-certification, with information on controlling persons.
• Periodic Review Analyst (KYC): a change in circumstances requires a new self-certification or a reasonable explanation.

The Council adopted the directive on 17 October 2023. The transposition deadline was 31 December 2025, and its provisions apply from 1 January 2026 (European Commission (external site)).

Self-certifications for pre-existing users are due by 1 January 2027. Exchanges between tax authorities for 2026 take place between 1 January and 30 September 2027, and national filing deadlines for providers fall before that date. Both dates are confirmed (European Commission (external site)).

Some other provisions of the directive apply only from 1 January 2028 and 1 January 2030 (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).

The Directive on Administrative Cooperation dates from 2011 and has been amended several times. Earlier steps added automatic exchange on financial accounts and on cross-border tax arrangements (EUR-Lex summary (external site)).

DAC8 extends the same model to crypto-assets. It follows the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (external site)).