Crypto Tax in Spain 2026: Rates, FIFO and What to Declare

If you are tax resident in Spain, profits from crypto are taxed under IRPF in the savings base (base del ahorro) at 19% to 30%. Every disposal counts, including swapping one coin for another. Cost basis follows FIFO: the coins you bought first are treated as sold first. Simply holding is not taxed. But if more than 50,000 € of your crypto sits with foreign exchanges on 31 December, you also have to file the informational Modelo 721.

This guide covers what is taxable, the current rates, how losses work, what goes on the return, and a full numeric example.

What triggers tax

Cashing out to your bank account is not what matters. A taxable gain or loss (ganancia o pérdida patrimonial) happens whenever you give crypto away in exchange for something:

• selling for euros, dollars or any fiat currency;
• swapping one crypto for another, for example BTC to ETH or ETH to USDT. The tax agency (AEAT) treats this as a permuta, which is a disposal;
• paying for goods or services with crypto.

Not taxable:

• buying crypto with fiat;
• holding, however much the price rises;
• moving coins between your own wallets and exchanges. Keep evidence that both addresses are yours.

Crypto-to-crypto swaps

This rule catches many people out. You bought BTC for 10,000 €, it grew to 30,000 €, and you moved into USDC to "lock in" the gain. For Hacienda you just realised a 20,000 € gain, even though no euros reached your bank. The transfer value is the market value at the moment of the swap, and that same value becomes the cost basis of the coin you received.

Savings base rates for 2025 and 2026

Crypto gains go into the savings base together with dividends, interest and share gains. The scale is progressive: each rate applies only to its own slice.

The 30% rate above 300,000 € was added by Ley 7/2024 and has applied since 1 January 2025. The previous top rate was 28%. Tax year 2025 was filed in spring 2026 (the Renta 2025 campaign ran from 8 April to 30 June 2026). The scale is unchanged for 2026, but keep an eye on the news. Regions do not set their own savings rates, so the scale is the same across Spain, except for the foral systems of the Basque Country and Navarre.

Calculating the gain: FIFO and fees

Gain = valor de transmisión (what you received, minus selling fees) − valor de adquisición (what you paid, plus buying fees).

When you bought the same coin several times at different prices, the AEAT's Renta manual applies FIFO: the earliest purchases are sold first. In practice:

• FIFO runs per coin, across all your platforms. BTC on Binance and BTC on Bybit form one queue of lots;
• amounts in dollars are converted to euros at the rate on the date of each trade;
• if an exchange only gives you recent history, you need older statements to rebuild your cost basis. Without them the whole calculation is shaky.

Staking, airdrops and other crypto income

These rules come from DGT rulings (notably V1766-22 and V0648-24), not from explicit provisions in the law:

Coins you get from staking or an airdrop enter your FIFO queue at their value on the day you received them. That is the cost basis when you later sell.

The two-month rule and losses

The two-month rule

Spanish law (art. 33.5.f LIRPF) says that if you sell listed securities at a loss and buy the same securities within two months before or after, you cannot claim the loss yet. It is deferred until you sell the replacement shares.

Whether this applies to crypto is not officially settled. Crypto is not a security. Some advisers argue the one-year rule for other assets (art. 33.5.e) could apply instead, and the Renta Web software asks about repurchases. There is no clear binding ruling. If you sold a coin at a loss and quickly bought it back, talk to your adviser before filing.

Offsetting losses

• Crypto losses offset gains from crypto, shares and funds in the same year. They all belong to the same block of capital gains and losses.
• If that block is still negative, it can offset up to 25% of your capital income (interest, dividends, staking) for the year.
• Whatever remains carries forward for 4 years.

Losing coins in a platform collapse (think FTX) is not an immediate loss for the AEAT. You still hold a claim against the platform, so the loss is recognised only under special timing rules (art. 14.2.k LIRPF), and then in the general base.

What goes on Modelo 100

The annual IRPF return is filed the following spring, usually from April to the end of June.

• Crypto sales and swaps go in the dedicated section "Ganancias y pérdidas patrimoniales derivadas de la transmisión o permuta de monedas virtuales" (boxes 1800 onward). For each coin you report the transfer value, the acquisition value and a key for what you received: F for fiat, N for another crypto, O for another virtual asset, B for goods or services.
• Staking and lending income goes in as capital income (rendimientos del capital mobiliario).
• Airdrops go under capital gains that belong to the general base.

Hacienda sees more than you think

• Modelos 172 and 173. Since 2024, Spanish crypto service providers report client balances and transactions to the AEAT.
• DAC8. EU Directive 2023/2226 has applied since 1 January 2026. Exchanges and brokers serving EU clients collect data on 2026 activity, and tax authorities start exchanging it in 2027. Spain's implementing rules were still in draft when this was written, so details may change.
• Modelo 721. This one is your obligation: if your crypto held by foreign custodians is worth more than 50,000 € on 31 December, you file an informational return by 31 March. See Modelo 720 and 721: declaring foreign assets in Spain.

In short: assuming the tax office will never find out is a bad bet. Clean records are the easier path.

Worked example

You are a Spanish tax resident with these trades:

• 2023: bought 0.5 BTC for 15,000 € (lot A);
• 2024: bought another 0.5 BTC for 30,000 € (lot B);
• 2025: sold 0.6 BTC for 54,000 €, exchange fee 100 €;
• 2025: swapped SOL to USDC at a 4,000 € loss;
• 2025: received ETH staking rewards worth 600 € on the days received.

Step 1. FIFO on BTC. The 0.6 BTC sold is 0.5 from lot A (15,000 €) plus 0.1 from lot B (6,000 €). Cost basis 21,000 €. Transfer value 54,000 − 100 = 53,900 €. Gain 32,900 €.

Step 2. Net the loss. 32,900 − 4,000 = 28,900 € net gains.

Step 3. Add capital income. Staking 600 €. Savings base = 28,900 + 600 = 29,500 €.

Step 4. Apply the scale.

That is an effective rate of about 20.6%. Get the FIFO order wrong and the gain changes, which is why your full history matters.

A loss year looks different. With −4,000 € on crypto and 2,000 € of bank interest, you offset 25% of the interest (500 €) and carry the remaining −3,500 € forward for up to 4 years.

Checklist before you file

1. Download full histories from every exchange and wallet from your first purchase, not just this year.
2. Mark transfers between your own accounts so they are not counted as sales.
3. Make sure every crypto-to-crypto swap is recorded as a disposal.
4. Run FIFO per coin across all platforms together.
5. List staking, lending and airdrops with their value on the day received.
6. Flag loss sales followed by quick buybacks and discuss them with your adviser.
7. Offset losses and apply any carried-forward losses from previous years.
8. Check your 31 December balances on foreign exchanges against the 50,000 € Modelo 721 threshold.
9. Keep the CSVs and statements: the AEAT may ask for evidence.

How Signae helps

Signae connects Bybit, Binance, Coinbase and wallets with read-only access, syncs your transactions automatically and shows them next to your stocks in one portfolio (more in tracking a stock and crypto portfolio). For Spain it builds a tax report with:

• FIFO per asset across all accounts, with ECB euro rates on each trade date;
• transfers between your own accounts recognised as transfers, and crypto-to-crypto swaps treated as sales;
• staking counted as income at market value;
• loss offsetting with the 25% cap and carry-forward, plus an estimated tax on the savings scale;
• warnings where history is incomplete or a rule is unsettled, such as crypto buybacks;
• a CSV and a Spanish PDF for your gestor or asesor fiscal, and 31 December values for Modelo 720/721.

Signae does the calculation; you or your adviser file the return. For shares and dividends, read stock and dividend tax in Spain.

Signae is in closed beta: request an invite and we will send you a TestFlight or Google Play link.