Episode 94 — What Are Crypto Taxes — What You Actually Need to Know

EPISODE 94 — What Are Crypto Taxes — What You Actually Need to Know

From January 2026, cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States are legally required to report your complete transaction history to the IRS. The EU's DAC8 directive requires all crypto service providers to share user account data with tax authorities across every member state. HMRC in the UK has been receiving exchange data for years. The Belgian tax authority has published guidance on crypto taxation since 2017. The era of crypto existing in a comfortable tax grey zone is definitively over — and the penalties for failing to report correctly range from significant fines to criminal prosecution in serious cases.

In this episode of Crypto for Beginners, we explain everything you need to know about crypto taxes in 2026. We cover why most countries treat cryptocurrency as a capital asset — not a currency — and what that means for how gains and losses are calculated using your cost basis. We explain which events create a tax obligation: selling crypto for fiat, swapping one crypto for another, spending crypto on goods or services, receiving staking rewards, earning yield from DeFi, and receiving airdropped tokens. We cover the Belgian framework specifically — the distinction between speculative investors taxed at 33%, long-term private investors who may qualify for exemption under the bon père de famille standard, and professional traders taxed as self-employed — and why the classification is genuinely complex, fact-specific, and requires professional advice.

We explain cost basis methods — FIFO versus specific identification — and why choosing incorrectly could cost you significantly. We cover crypto tax software tools that make record-keeping manageable: Koinly, CoinTracker, and Blockpit. We explain the single most important action every crypto investor must take from their very first transaction: keep complete records of every purchase, sale, swap, and income event with the date and fair market value at the time.

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