EU crypto tax reporting begins January 1, 2026

The rollout covers 48 jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and the European Union, and is designed to feed into existing cross-border information-sharing arrangements.

Under CARF, in-scope providers must collect expanded customer details, including tax residency and self-certification information, and verify that data as part of onboarding and ongoing reviews. Platforms are expected to report users balances and transactions annually to domestic tax authorities, which can then exchange that information with other participating jurisdictions.

Lucy Frew, partner and head of the global Regulatory and Risk Advisory Group at law firm Walkers, told Cointelegraph that the framework changes how digital-asset businesses handle customer data and reporting. She noted that users should expect more detailed onboarding questions and periodic checks, and that activity on offshore platforms may be less likely to remain outside the view of tax agencies once reporting begins.

For exchanges, CARF adds a new layer to existing know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering processes. Firms may need to redesign onboarding flows, update customer support procedures and build reporting systems that can generate standardized submissions across different jurisdictions. UK-licensed platforms such as CoinJar are preparing to request additional tax residency information as the rules phase in. CoinJar chief executive and co-founder Asher Tan told Cointelegraph that the implementation challenge is meeting regulatory expectations while keeping the customer experience clear.

For retail users, CARF does not create a new tax, but it increases the likelihood that existing obligations will be enforced through direct data matching. A UK-based practitioner quoted by Cointelegraph said that from 2026 His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will receive machine-readable data from exchanges, including overseas platforms, making discrepancies easier to identify. The practitioner cited common issues including unreported offshore exchange activity, frequent small disposals assumed to be immaterial, and decentralized finance or non-fungible token transactions that were misreported or not reported, and urged users with unresolved positions to address them while voluntary disclosure remains available.

As GNcrypto reported earlier, on 22 December 2025 a group of 18 U.S. House members led by Representative Mike Carey urged Treasury Secretary and acting IRS head Scott Bessent to revisit staking tax guidance before the 2026 tax year. The lawmakers asked the agency to reconsider Revenue Ruling 2023-14, which treats staking rewards as taxable income when a taxpayer gains control of them, and argued the approach can amount to double taxation when tokens are later sold.