New obligation to provide information on crypto asset services in 2026

Starting in tax year 2026, the Tax Administration will receive increasingly extensive information on trading in crypto assets, due to international agreements binding Finland. Information will be collected more widely for purposes of taxation from both abroad and Finland, and international exchange of information will intensify.

Underlying these developments is the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework, or CARF, developed by the OECD: 70 states and jurisdictions have already committed themselves to automated information exchange in accordance with the framework. Information exchange between EU Member States will be effected by amending the DAC8 directive to conform to CARF.

The Government proposal on the crypto asset service providers’ obligation to provide information will be discussed in the Parliament during the autumn.

What are crypto assets and what is crypto asset service?

Crypto assets are a digital representation of value or rights that can be transferred and stored using distributed accounting book technology or the like. Crypto assets can be used for investment purposes, for example, or to buy goods or services on the internet. Examples of crypto assets are bitcoin, ether, tether and litecoin.

A reporting crypto asset service provider provides crypto asset services for users or carries out exchange transactions on their behalf. An example of an exchange transaction is when crypto assets are exchanged for euros. As a rule, a reporting crypto asset service provider reports information to the Finnish Tax Administration after the Financial Supervisory Authority has granted them an authorisation of a crypto asset service provider.

What information is collected on crypto assets?

Starting in 2026, crypto asset service providers reporting to Finland must collect information on service users and their purchases, sales and transfers of crypto assets. Information will be collected on both Finnish and non-Finnish service users.

Crypto asset service providers must submit annual returns on this information to the Tax Administration for the first time in 2027. Information on users’ crypto asset exchanges and transfers will be reported as a total amount per year and crypto asset.

Finland will send information on foreign service users to each user’s country of residence. In the same way, crypto asset service providers reporting to a country other than Finland will provide Finland with information on individuals or companies that reside in Finland and use the foreign service. 

In addition to the legal amendment in accordance with DAC8 and CARF, the Government proposal imposes a wider obligation to provide information on crypto asset service providers reporting to Finland than what DAC8 and CARF do: service providers should give the Finnish Tax Administration information on the basis of which it is possible to calculate capital gains and capital losses from crypto assets for people residing in Finland and for decedent’s estates in Finland.

The amendment to the DAC8 directive and the CRS standard also contain amendments to the provisions on financial account information and to the provisions on other information exchange and administrative cooperation. Where the financial account information (CRS/DAC2) is concerned, the Tax Administration guidance must be comprehensively reviewed and updated. CRS (Common Reporting Standard) is an international standard for automatic exchange of financial account information, issued by the OECD.

Crypto asset users must still file the information in their tax returns

Although the Tax Administration’s access to information improves, crypto asset owners are still obliged to report any gains and losses from trading and other income from the use or exchange of crypto assets in their personal pre-completed tax returns and check the details given in the return.

Further information

• Government proposal to the Parliament on the act on the reporting crypto asset service providers’ obligation to provide information in the field of taxation and on the amendment of certains acts; Ministry of Finance (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
• Basic information on taxation of crypto assets for individuals