According to Richard Kirves, Service Owner at the ETCB's Income Tax Department, the acquisition cost in transactions carried out with crypto-assets since the beginning of 2024 may include the fee related to the use of a trading platform for crypto-assets. “Special provisions have been included in the Income tax Act allowing crypto-asset and crowdfunding platform fees to be included in the acquisition cost of the financial instruments acquired through them. The amendment to the Act applies retroactively to transactions carried out as of 1 January 2024,” Kirves explained.
There are no other changes in how to declare the crypto transactions of 2024 compared to the income tax return for 2023. Instructions on how to declare crypto transactions can be found on the website of the ETCB.
Transactions made with crypto-assets must be declared in table 6.3 of the income tax return, and in table 8.3 for income received abroad. Only profitable transactions should be declared. “If you have carried out a very large number of transactions with crypto-assets in 2024, they can be declared in total, entered as a single line in your income tax return. However, it is important to keep in mind that only profitable transactions can be added together – it is not allowed to take losses into account,” Kirves said.
Income from sales or swaps of crypto-assets must be declared even if no payments have been made to a bank account from the crypto-asset service provider.
The ETCB reminds that when declaring the income for 2024, it is not possible to use an investment account for transactions related to crypto-assets and for postponing income tax liability. “If an investment account has been used for transactions with crypto-assets in 2024, these transactions must be declared as withdrawals from the investment account,” Kirves added.
Upon calculating the tax on the income received, the purchase and sale price of crypto-assets must be converted into euros. In the case of a transaction made under market conditions, this must be done on the basis of the exchange rate of the specific provider through which the transaction took place. If the exchange rate of the service provider is not known, the calculation shall be based on the market price of the crypto-assets applicable on the day when the income was received or the cost was incurred.
If the exchange rate in the crypto-assets’ transaction environment has been calculated using a currency other than the euro, e.g. the US dollar, then the amount in question must be converted into euros based on the Central Bank's rate on that day. More information on foreign exchange rates is available on the Eesti Pank website.
From 2026, crypto-asset service providers in the European Union, the United States and third countries will be required to collect information on crypto-asset transactions of their clients operating on their platform and report this information to the tax authorities that have joined the information exchange. Such exchange of information will give countries a better overview of crypto-asset transactions and the income related to them, which in turn will help shape a more transparent tax environment. Crypto-asset service providers operating in Estonia will have to submit transaction data to the ETCB for the first time in 2027.
The 2024 income tax return season started on 15 February 2025. There is no need to rush with the submission of income tax return as it can be submitted until 30 April. Read more about submitting the income tax return for 2024 from the ETCB web site.
