Focus on crypto assets: New international information exchange from 2026

The Federal Council will introduce automatic exchange of information (AEOI) for crypto assets from 2026, with the first data exchange taking place in 2027. Until 2025, only traditional assets such as bank balances were reported, crypto assets remained unaffected, and crypto exchanges such as Coinbase or Binance were not subject to AEOI. With the implementation of the OECD standard, Switzerland is closing this gap.

Relevant crypto assets are now considered reportable if they are secured by DLT and serve as a form of payment or investment. These include Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, tokenised assets and tradable NFTs.

For private individuals, the sale of crypto assets remains fundamentally tax-free, provided that there is no commercial trading. However, crypto holdings must be declared completely and correctly in wealth tax returns.

In future, the tax authorities will pay particular attention to checking whether this has been done to date. Anyone who has not yet declared crypto assets, or has done so incompletely, can make up for this before the first data exchange via a voluntary disclosure without penalty.