The decentralised nature of crypto-assets has made it difficult for EU countries’ tax administrations to ensure tax compliance. The inherent cross-border nature of crypto-assets requires strong international administrative cooperation to ensure effective tax assessment and collection of the related income and capital gains.
The Directive lays down the rules and procedures for exchanging information on crypto-asset users by implementing due diligence procedures and reporting rules for operators active in crypto-asset transactions and their users. The rules are based on the OECD's international standard Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). The Commentaries and the FAQs issued by the OECD in relation to the CARF can also serve as interpretative material for DAC8 to the extent that the two texts are aligned.
Background
The directive was adopted by EU countries on 17 October 2023 and published in the Official Journal of 24 October. EU countries will have to transpose it by 31 December 2025 and must apply its provisions as of 1 January 2026.
The crypto-asset market has grown in importance as it provides a variety of new business opportunities, including those for innovation and investment. Nevertheless, the growth in the use of crypto-assets should not be at the expense of transparency for tax purposes.
The decentralised nature of crypto-assets makes it difficult for EU countries’ tax administrations to ensure compliance with the rules and guidance they have put in place to tax income and gains derived from crypto-asset transactions.
The directive requires EU countries to obtain information from the Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers (RCASPs) and exchange that information with the EU country of residence of the taxpayer/investor on an annual basis.
Reporting
RCASPs are required to collect information pertaining to transactions of their resident and non-resident investors for the reporting year according to the customer due-diligence obligations of the directive.
This information is sent by RCASPs to their national tax authorities in the calendar year following the reporting year. The information on non-resident investors is then exchanged with tax authorities of the EU country of residence of the non-resident investor within 9 months of the reporting year. Therefore, the exchanges relating to the first reporting year (2026) will take place by 30 September 2027.
Scope
This directive covers a broad scope of crypto-assets, building on the definitions set out in the European Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
In addition, crypto-assets that have been issued in a decentralised manner, as well as stablecoins, including e-money tokens and certain non-fungible tokens (NFTs), are included within the scope of the directive.
