How are crypto assets declared for tax in Switzerland?

What goes into the return

Crypto assets are treated like other movable private assets. You list each holding (token, quantity, wallet or exchange) in the statement of securities and assets, together with its value in Swiss francs on 31 December. The FTA publishes year-end rates for the most common tokens; for tokens without an official rate, the usual approach is to use the year-end price on the exchange where the token trades, and to document how that value was obtained.

Wealth tax is levied by the canton and the commune, not by the Confederation, so the rate depends on where you live. The return itself is filed with the cantonal tax office.

Gains, income and the professional trader question

Selling crypto at a profit, or swapping one token for another, is generally a tax-free private capital gain (and a loss is not deductible). By contrast, anything you receive as remuneration is income and must be declared at its value when received.

• Staking and lending rewards: taxable income when received.
• Mining: usually taxable income, and potentially self-employment if carried out on a significant scale.
• Airdrops and hard forks: treatment depends on the circumstances; ask your tax advisor.
• Frequent, leveraged or short-term trading: may lead the tax office to classify you as a professional trader, making gains taxable and subject to social security contributions.

Documents to keep

The tax office may ask you to prove both the holdings and their origin. It helps to keep, every year, exchange statements as at 31 December, public wallet addresses, a record of income events and evidence of where the original funds came from. If your history spans many wallets, exchanges that no longer exist or DeFi protocols, a reconstruction based on blockchain data can fill the gaps.

Why it matters elsewhere

Switzerland is an unusual model: it taxes private wealth every year but generally leaves private capital gains untaxed. Readers in other countries can still take three lessons from it. Tax authorities want year-end holdings with a documented value, they separate capital gains from income such as staking, and the line between private investor and professional trader depends on behaviour, a question many tax systems ask in one form or another.

How Advisorn helps

This page is general information, not tax advice: your tax advisor prepares and files the return. Advisorn Forensics prepares signed reports that reconstruct holdings and their origin from on-chain data, which your advisor can attach to the return or provide if the tax office asks questions.