What changed in 2026
Since 1 January 2026, Belgium taxes realised gains on financial assets at 10%. Crypto is explicitly in scope. Before that, there was no general capital-gains tax: a private individual investing as a prudent person generally paid nothing on the gain. That starting point is gone — the gain you realise from 2026 onward falls under the tax.
What does not change matters. The 10% tax applies to the gain, not to the full sale amount, and an annual exemption applies to crypto too. That exemption is the same one that covers your other financial assets; its exact amount and its carry-forward are covered in the article on the exemption.
The 31 December 2025 step-up
Gains built up before 2026 fall outside the tax. The mechanism that arranges this is the step-up: for crypto you bought before 2026, your taxable gain does not start from your purchase price, but from the value on 31 December 2025.
An example. You bought one unit in 2021 at €8,000. On 31 December 2025 it is worth €30,000. In 2026 you sell at €34,000.
- Measured against your purchase price, the gain is €26,000.
- Measured against the step-up value, your taxable gain is €4,000.
Only that second figure counts for this tax. That is why an evidenced valuation at 31 December 2025 is worth keeping: if you cannot show it, a calculation risks falling back on your — usually far lower — purchase price, and the taxable gain comes out too high. So keep a record of your positions and their value on that date.
What counts as a taxable event
For shares it is intuitive: you sell, you realise. For crypto it is trickier, because a swap from one coin to another — without ever going into euros — also counts, according to most sources, as a realisation, and therefore as a taxable moment. The same holds when you pay for something directly in crypto.
The consequence is administrative: a portfolio in which you regularly move between coins builds up far more taxable moments than there are euro sales. The euro price at the moment of each swap is then needed to determine the gain. What is — and is not — settled about those swaps is in the article is a crypto swap taxable in Belgium; the full sum is in the step-by-step guide to calculating crypto capital gains tax.
To be confirmed. The precise treatment of coin-to-coin swaps, staking, mining and airdrops is, at the time of writing, not confirmed in detail by the FPS Finance. Treat any figure that rests on it as uncertain and check it with the administration or a tax adviser.
Nobody withholds anything
At a Belgian broker the stock-exchange tax — and soon the capital-gains tax — is usually withheld at source. For crypto that is not the case: crypto exchanges — Belgian ones included — do not pay the capital-gains tax over for you. You declare the gain yourself, the way an investor at Interactive Brokers or Trade Republic does for their shares.
On the information side, something does change: under the European DAC8 directive, foreign crypto platforms share data on their users with national tax authorities from 2026. The assumption that a foreign exchange stays out of sight is therefore less and less true. All the more reason to take the return seriously — the walkthrough for declaring crypto yourself describes how. The calculator reads your exchange's export directly; where to find that export is in the per-exchange export guide.
Investor, speculator or professional
The 10% applies to anyone investing within the normal management of a private estate. Anyone trading faster and more systematically can fall under the miscellaneous income regime (higher rate) or even the professional income regime (progressive). Where those lines sit, and which features matter, is in the article on speculator, professional or ordinary investor.
Check your figures
Belfolio presents these rules for information. This is not tax advice, and several points above are not yet definitively confirmed. Check your situation with the FPS Finance or your accountant before you file.
Published 9 Aug 2026
Frequently asked questions
- Do I pay tax on crypto gains?
- Since 1 January 2026, realised gains on crypto fall under the 10% capital-gains tax, like shares and ETFs. There is an annual exemption, and only the gain built up after 31 December 2025 is taxed. Anyone acting as a speculator or professionally falls under a different, heavier regime — covered in a separate article.
- Is swapping one crypto for another taxable?
- According to most sources every realisation is a taxable moment, including a swap from one coin to another without ever passing through euros. That is exactly why record-keeping weighs more than with shares: an active portfolio produces far more taxable moments than there are euro sales.
- Does my exchange withhold the tax?
- No. Crypto exchanges — Belgian ones included — do not withhold the capital-gains tax at source. You declare the gain yourself. From 2026, foreign platforms do share data with the Belgian tax authority under the DAC8 directive.