Revenue's starting position
Revenue's guidance is explicit: there are no special tax rules for cryptocurrencies or crypto-assets. Ordinary income tax, capital gains tax, corporation tax and VAT principles are applied to the facts of what you did.
That sounds permissive and is the opposite. It means every transaction has to be characterised on its own facts, and there is no simplified regime, no de minimis for small trades, and no separate crypto return.
Disposals: capital gains tax
For most people holding crypto as an investment, disposals fall under CGT at 33%, after the annual personal exemption of €1,270.
The word disposal does more work than people expect. It is not limited to converting to euro.
- Selling crypto for euro or any other fiat currency.
- Swapping one crypto-asset for another — this is a disposal of the first asset at market value, even though no fiat is involved.
- Using crypto to pay for goods or services.
- Gifting crypto to anyone other than your spouse or civil partner.
Crypto-to-crypto swaps are the single largest source of unreported Irish CGT. Someone who moved between tokens dozens of times without ever withdrawing to a bank account has made dozens of disposals, each needing a euro valuation at the date it happened.
Working out the cost
Where you have acquired the same asset at different times and prices, Irish CGT uses first-in first-out matching, with a special rule for assets bought and sold within four weeks. You value each transaction in euro at the date it occurred, using a consistent and defensible source.
Exchange fees and transaction costs are allowable against the gain. Costs of holding — cold storage hardware, portfolio subscriptions — generally are not.
The deadlines are the trap
CGT payment comes before the return. Tax on disposals between 1 January and 30 November is due by 15 December of the same year. Tax on December disposals is due by 31 January following. The return itself is due by 31 October of the following year.
Someone who made a large gain in February and plans to tell their accountant next autumn has already missed the payment date by ten months, and interest runs daily.
Income, not gains
Some crypto activity is income when it is received, and then falls into CGT again when the asset is later disposed of. Both layers apply; the income tax charge does not replace the capital gains charge.
| Activity | Likely treatment |
|---|---|
| Being paid salary or fees in crypto | Income at the euro value on the date of receipt, through PAYE or self-assessment |
| Mining as a business | Trading income, with allowable expenses |
| Staking rewards | Generally income at the euro value when the reward becomes yours |
| Airdrops | Depends on whether anything was done to earn them; often income where they were |
| Frequent, organised, systematic trading | Potentially a trade, taxed as income rather than CGT |
Losses
Crypto capital losses are allowable against crypto and other capital gains in the same year, and carry forward indefinitely. That makes them worth claiming even when there is no gain to use them against yet, and claiming them requires filing the return.
A token that has become worthless, or an asset lost in an exchange collapse, may support a negligible value claim. The evidence requirements are real, and the claim has to be made rather than assumed.
What changed on 1 January 2026
DAC8, the eighth amendment to the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation, implements the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework across the EU. Its provisions apply from 1 January 2026.
From that date, reporting crypto-asset service providers must collect information on reportable users and their transactions. The first returns covering 2026 data are due from providers by 31 May 2027, with exchange between tax authorities to follow by 30 September 2027.
The practical consequence is that Revenue will receive transaction-level data about Irish residents directly from exchanges. The gap between what a taxpayer declares and what their exchange reports becomes visible without an audit being opened.
If there are prior years that were not declared, the position is better addressed by a voluntary disclosure than by waiting. A qualifying disclosure made before Revenue begins an inquiry mitigates penalties substantially and avoids publication on the defaulters list. Once an inquiry has started, that route closes.
Record keeping
Revenue requires records to be retained for six years. Exchanges close, accounts get locked, and historic data becomes irretrievable — often exactly when you need it.
- Export full transaction history from every exchange and wallet at least annually, and keep the raw files.
- Record the euro value at the date of each transaction, from a consistent source.
- Keep a record of wallet addresses you control, so transfers between your own wallets can be distinguished from disposals.
- Retain fee records, which reduce the gain.
- Reconcile portfolio-tracking software output back to the raw exports rather than trusting it blindly.