Building a yearly record of exchange activity for German tax preparation
Holding periods and the cost of each purchase can matter for how crypto disposals are treated in Germany, which makes accurate records far more valuable than a rough memory of what you bought and when. Exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Bybit and Bitget offer exports, but the formats differ, some history windows are limited, and records from closed accounts can be hard to retrieve later. This guide describes a simple yearly routine for collecting and storing your records. It does not give tax advice; for the treatment of your specific situation, speak with a qualified tax adviser.
Export early and in full
Do not wait until the deadline. At the start of each year, or quarterly if you trade often, export trade history, deposits, withdrawals, conversions and any rewards from each platform you use. Check the official help pages for the export options and any limits on date ranges, and run several exports if one request cannot cover the whole period. Save the original files without editing them.
Keep transfers traceable
Moving coins between your own accounts and wallets is easy to confuse with a sale. For every transfer, keep the date, amount, network and transaction identifier on both sides, so a withdrawal from one platform can be matched to a deposit somewhere else. A short note explaining that both ends belong to you will save time later when you or your adviser reconcile the year.
Store records safely
Keep the exported files in an organised folder by year and platform, with a backup in a second location. These files contain financial data, so protect them as you would bank statements, and avoid sharing them through casual messaging apps. If you close an account, export everything before closure, because getting history afterwards may require a support request.
Check for gaps before handing over
Before passing records to an adviser or software, compare the closing balances in your export with what the platform shows for the same date. Large differences usually mean a missing file, an unrecorded transfer or a product such as earn or futures that exports separately. Fixing gaps now is far easier than reconstructing them years later.
Risk boundary: Germany Crypto Guide
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Scenario checkpoint
- Export trades, deposits, withdrawals, conversions and rewards every year
- Run several exports when one request cannot cover the whole period
- Record transaction identifiers on both sides of every transfer between your accounts
- Back up the original files in a second location organised by year
- Compare export balances with platform balances to find missing records