Taxation of Kryptowerte und Digital Assets in Switzerland and Ticino

The working paper of the Federal Tax Administration

Swiss tax law contains no special provisions for Kryptowerte und Digital Assets. The Federal Tax Administration (ESTV, in Italian AFC) has set out its practice in a working paper on the treatment of cryptocurrencies and initial coin or token offerings for wealth, income and profit tax, withholding tax and stamp duties. The first version dates from 27 August 2019. The current version, dated 14 December 2021 and listed on the ESTV website under 3 August 2022, replaced it.¹ The working paper adopts the three categories of FINMA's guidelines with a tax-specific refinement. It distinguishes payment tokens, which give no claims against an issuer, from asset tokens, which convey monetary rights by contract and are subdivided into debt tokens, contractbased tokens with profit-sharing arrangements and participation tokens resembling equity, and from utility tokens, which give rights to digital services. The classification for tax purposes is made independently, but in most cases it follows the supervisory classification.

Private investors: wealth and capital gains

For a private investor resident in Ticino, Kryptowerte und Digital Assets are part of taxable wealth. They are valued at their market value on 31 December of the tax year. The ESTV publishes year-end values for the main tokens in its price list (Kursliste). For tokens not on the list, the market value on a leading trading platform may be used.² The cantonal wealth tax under the Ticino Tax Law (Legge tributaria) applies to this value, as it does to securities and bank deposits, while the Confederation levies no wealth tax. Lugano's wealthy residents who hold large positions in bitcoin therefore pay the cantonal and communal wealth tax on its year-end value, which can vary considerably from year to year.³

Capital gains from the sale of private movable assets are tax-free under Article 16 paragraph 3 of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Tax (DBG), SR 642.11, and under the corresponding cantonal provisions. The ESTV confirms that this applies to Kryptowerte und Digital Assets held as private assets.⁴ Income from mining and staking is taxable income, as are airdrops, which are taxed at their market value when they are allocated. Tokens received by employees as part of their remuneration are taxable employment income.⁵ Losses on private assets are not deductible, which is the counterpart of the exemption of gains.

The professional trader

The exemption of capital gains does not apply where the investor qualifies as a professional securities trader. The ESTV applies the criteria of its Circular No. 36 of 27 July 2012 by analogy. Under the safe harbour of that circular, an investor is not a professional trader if the holding period is at least six months, the transaction volume does not exceed five times the assets at the beginning of the year, the capital gains do not exceed fifty per cent of net income, the investments are not financed by debt and derivatives are used only for hedging.⁶ An investor who fails one or more of the criteria is not automatically a professional trader. The tax administration then assesses the overall circumstances, and the courts have developed a body of case law on the question. Once the investor is classified as a professional, the gains become taxable income subject to social security contributions, and losses become deductible. For the active trader of Kryptowerte und Digital Assets in Lugano, whose transaction frequency is often high, the classification is the main tax risk and a common subject of rulings.

Notes

1. Federal Tax Administration, "Kryptowährungen", https://www.estv.admin.ch/estv/de/home/direkte-bundessteuer/dbst-fachinformationen/kryptowaehrungen.html (working paper on direct federal tax, withholding tax and stamp duties, listed under 3 August 2022; "Das vorliegende Arbeitspapier ersetzt dessen Ursprungsversion vom 27. August 2019"; the document itself is dated 14 December 2021, see below; payment, asset and utility tokens; asset tokens subdivided into debt, contract-based and participation tokens). ↩
2. Federal Tax Administration, "Kryptowährungen" (above) (Kursliste; for other tokens "der Marktwert einer der führenden Handelsplattformen"). ↩
3. Federal Act on the Harmonization of Direct Taxes of the Cantons and Communes of 14 December 1990 (StHG), SR 642.14, Art. 2 para. 1 (cantonal wealth tax of natural persons), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/6/64/642.14-2-5.html, Art. 13 (object of the tax), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/6/64/642.14-13-26.html, and Art. 14 para. 1 ("Das Vermögen wird zum Verkehrswert bewertet"), https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/de-it/6/64/642.14-14-27.html. ↩
4. Federal Tax Administration, "Kryptowährungen" (above) (gains of natural persons on private assets "grundsätzlich steuerfreie Kapitalgewinne oder nicht abzugsfähige Kapitalverluste", with reference to Art. 16 para. 3 DBG). ↩
5. Federal Tax Administration, "Kryptowährungen" (above) (mining and staking income taxable; airdrops taxable at market value upon allocation; employee tokens taxable employment income). ↩
6. Federal Tax Administration, "Kryptowährungen" (above) ("sinngemässe Anwendung der Kriterien gemäss KS Nr. 36"; "Je nach Art, Umfang und Finanzierung der Transaktionen liegt keine private Vermögensverwaltung, sondern selbständige Erwerbstätigkeit vor"). ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.