14/09/2026
Accepting crypto does not make a sale tax free. The crypto did not make the sale tax free, it just settled the bill.
This confusion has a real origin, and it is a court decision that gets quoted half way. In Skatteverket v Hedqvist, Case C-264/14, decided 22 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the EU held that exchanging Bitcoin for fiat is a supply of services for consideration under Article 2(1)(c) of the VAT Directive, and exempt under Article 135(1)(e). The exemption covers the exchange transaction. It has never covered what you sold.
Sell a laptop for 1,000 euro and take payment in crypto, and you owe VAT on 1,000 euro.
Which leaves the practical question of which value goes on the invoice.
Article 91(2) of the VAT Directive, applied by analogy, points to the most recent selling rate on the representative exchange market at the moment VAT becomes chargeable, or the latest rate published by the European Central Bank. Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance, in its letter of 27 February 2018, treats Bitcoin used as a direct contractual means of payment the same as conventional means of payment, and accepts the last published selling rate from a conversion portal when it is documented. Irish Revenue follows the same spine, with the taxable amount set at the euro value at the time of supply and no change to how taxable profits are calculated. Accounts for tax purposes cannot be prepared in crypto at all.
Different countries, same spine. Crypto is the payment rail, and the tax follows the transaction.
Two things are worth acting on this year.
One crypto payment can contain two taxable moments. Income at receipt, and then a separate gain or loss if the value moves before you convert. Converting to fiat on receipt removes the second one entirely, which is the quietest argument for fiat settlement anyone has made.
And DAC8, Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226, applies from 1 January 2026. First reports cover the 2026 year, land with tax authorities in 2027, and get exchanged between member states by 30 September 2027. The obligation sits on providers rather than on merchants, which is precisely what makes your provider's compliance your problem.
Five records make all of this survivable: the date, the crypto amount and asset, the fiat equivalent value, the exchange rate used together with its source, and the wallet addresses and transaction IDs.
This is general information rather than tax advice. Crypto tax treatment still differs across all 27 member states, so which rate source your authority accepts is a question for your advisor rather than for a blog.
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