Your Crypto Isn’t Being Reported to the Tax Office (Yet) – Here’s Why

I keep seeing people freak out about DAC8 - Directive (EU) 2023/2226 – the latest amendment of EU Directive for Administrative Cooperation that imposes crypto transactions to get reported to tax authorities starting January 2026. Let me tell you what’s actually going on.

First, a quick EU Law 101

Here’s the thing most people miss: EU directives don’t work the way you think they do.

Unlike EU regulations (like MiCA) which apply directly across all member states, directives are more like instructions from Brussels telling national governments “you need to make a law that does X.” Each country then has to go through their own legislative process – draft a bill, debate it, pass it through parliament, get it signed. Only then does it become enforceable law in that country.

So where are we with DAC8?

The EU adopted DAC8 back in October 2023. Member states were given until December 31, 2025 to transpose it into national law.

Guess what? Most of them didn’t make it.

As of right now:

  • Germany – Just squeezed through, parliament approved it on December 19, 2025 (literally days before the deadline). Still waiting on the president’s signature.
  • Finland – Done as of December 1, 2025
  • Croatia – Published their bill in early December 2025

Others are making progress, but not quite:

  • Poland – As of mid-2025, they hadn’t even published a draft bill. They were almost a year late with DAC7, so no surprises there.
  • Luxembourg – Still had a draft law in parliament as of late summer 2025
  • Multiple other countries – Still working on it

What does this mean for you?

If your country hasn’t transposed DAC8 into national law, crypto service providers in your country don’t have a legal obligation to report your transactions yet. There’s no enforcement mechanism until the national law exists.

Now, should you use this as an excuse to not pay your crypto taxes? Absolutely not. Your tax obligations haven’t changed – you still owe tax on your crypto gains regardless of whether your exchange reports them.

But if you’ve been stressed about imminent automatic reporting starting January 2026 – take a breath. The reality is messier and slower than the headlines suggest.

The actual reporting under DAC8 won’t start until 2027 anyway (for 2026 transactions), and that’s only in countries that have their legislation in place. Many countries will likely be playing catch-up well into 2026.