Bitcoin on Your Swiss Tax Return: Step by Step

Short answer: On your Swiss tax return, you enter bitcoin in the list of securities and assets (Wertschriften- und Guthabenverzeichnis): the number of bitcoin you hold on December 31, valued at the year-end price in the price list of the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV). As evidence, you attach the annual statements from your exchange and a printout of your wallet. Income such as interest goes in the section for assets without withholding tax. You do not enter private capital gains (as of Nov 13, 2026).

The tax software is open, so is the securities list, and somewhere in there your bitcoin need to go. But on which line? At which price? And how do you document coins that sit on a hardware wallet in a drawer? This article takes you through bitcoin on your tax return in Switzerland, step by step, with a worked example in francs.

Why bitcoin are taxed the way they are in Switzerland, with a wealth tax instead of a capital gains tax, is explained in the basics article Bitcoin taxes in Switzerland. This one is about filling in the forms.

Before you start: the documents you need

Get everything ready before you open the tax software. It saves you queries from the tax office.

Step 1: Add up your holding as of December 31

What counts is what you own on December 31, not where it is kept. So add everything up:

• Bitcoin on exchanges and in buying apps
• Bitcoin in your own wallets, whether hardware wallet, phone app or multisig
• Balances in the Lightning Network
• Bitcoin you have lent out or pledged as collateral for a loan. They still belong to you, even if they don't show up in any of your wallets.

If you move to or away from Switzerland during the year, the end of your tax liability applies instead of December 31.

Step 2: Create evidence without giving up your security

The tax office wants to see that the holding is correct. The canton of Basel-Stadt explicitly requires a printout of the wallet as of the end of the tax period; the cantons of Aargau and Zug accept one "as a rule".

For exchanges and apps, download the annual statement. It shows your balance and transactions. If there is no such document, use a dated account statement or an export of your transactions.

For your own wallet, take a screenshot or printout showing the balance and the date. The easiest way is to do it on December 31 itself. If you missed that, many wallet apps show the history, so you can document the year-end balance afterwards.

Step 3: Enter bitcoin in the securities list

For tax purposes, bitcoin are not securities, but for simplicity they are recorded in the list of securities and assets (Wertschriften- und Guthabenverzeichnis). Depending on the canton, it is also called form W. Because no withholding tax (Verrechnungssteuer) is deducted on bitcoin, they go in the section assets without withholding tax, section B on most forms.

In most cantonal tax programs, you simply search for "Bitcoin". The program suggests the entry from the price list and calculates the tax value itself. Also attach your breakdown per wallet and provider, as Basel-Stadt, for example, requires.

Step 4: Use the right price

You don't set the value yourself. For bitcoin, the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) publishes an official year-end price every year in its ICTax price list, calculated as the average of several trading platforms. This price applies in every canton.

The price for the end of 2025 is about 19% lower than a year earlier. The same bitcoin therefore cost you less wealth tax. The exact value for your tax year is in the price list.

You don't use your exchange's price or a daily price from January. Only for cryptocurrencies without an ESTV price does the trading platform's year-end price apply, and if there is none at all, the purchase price in francs. For bitcoin, that never happens.

Step 5: Declare income from bitcoin

If during the tax year you received bitcoin as income rather than buying them, that is income. Where it goes depends on the type:

How income from bitcoin-related securities is declared, such as dividends from Strategy's preferred stock, and how to reclaim US withholding tax, is explained in the article Paying tax on Digital Credit dividends.

Step 6: Don't enter sales and purchases as income

If you sold bitcoin during the year, the gain does not go on your tax return, as long as you manage your assets privately. You don't enter losses either, because they are not deductible.

The sale only shows indirectly: at the end of the year the proceeds are in your bank account or have been spent. Fewer bitcoin in the list, more money in the account; for the tax office, that adds up.

It is different if you trade so intensively that the tax administration classifies you as a professional securities dealer. The five criteria for that, from holding period to buying on credit, are in the article Professional securities trading with bitcoin. If you buy and hold, you practically always meet them.

Special cases: loans, ETPs and shares

Loans against bitcoin. If you borrow francs and pledge bitcoin as collateral, you enter the loan in the list of debts. It reduces your taxable wealth. The interest is deductible as private debt interest; for federal tax, up to the amount of your investment income plus CHF 50’000. The pledged bitcoin stay in your securities list. When such a loan makes sense is explained in Borrow instead of selling.

Bitcoin ETPs and shares. Products with an ISIN that you hold through your bank, such as a bitcoin ETP on SIX or Strategy shares, are real securities. They appear on your bank's tax statement and go into the list with their security number (Valorennummer), like any other share.

Worked example: Lea's 2025 tax return

How much wealth tax you pay depends on your canton, your municipality and your total wealth. Below the cantonal tax-free allowance, you pay nothing at all.

Estimating next year's wealth tax

Because only the price on December 31 counts, the tax moves with the bitcoin price. On 12 Nov 2026, one bitcoin cost about CHF 59’540 (€64’490). That is 0.66 times the long-term Power Law trend, which puts it in the accumulation zone, just above the floor. Where the price stands today is shown in the Power Law analysis.

For Lea's 0.34 BTC, that gives this rough range for the 2026 tax return:

What your own holding will be worth at least in a few years, if bitcoin is then only on the floor, you can calculate here:

Common mistakes

1. Forgetting your own wallet. Bitcoin on a hardware wallet are assets too. If you only declare the exchange, your declaration is incomplete.
2. Using the wrong price. What counts is the ESTV price list as of 31 Dec, not the price on the day you fill in your tax return.
3. Entering gains as income. Private capital gains don't belong anywhere. If you enter them anyway, at worst you pay tax you don't owe.
4. Leaving out income. Interest from lending is income, even if it was only credited in bitcoin.
5. Looking for evidence too late. Take a screenshot of every wallet on December 31. In March it is more of a hassle.

Not declared so far? How to catch up

If you have not declared your bitcoin so far, that is tax evasion. The fine is usually equal to the evaded tax. Once in your life, you can clear this up with a penalty-free voluntary disclosure (straflose Selbstanzeige): you pay the back taxes for up to the past ten years plus late-payment interest, but no fine, as long as the tax administration doesn't know yet.

That will soon get harder. From 1 Jan 2027, Switzerland implements the international exchange of crypto data under the OECD standard CARF. Providers then report customer data and transactions, and the tax authorities are expected to receive the first data, for 2027, in 2028. If you declare everything, you don't need to worry about this. Get advice from a professional for a voluntary disclosure.

Bitcoin you give away or leave as an inheritance are subject to cantonal gift and inheritance tax; which cantons charge what is shown in Giving and inheriting bitcoin: the taxes. How your family can get to your coins in an emergency is in Passing on bitcoin. How taxes work in Germany is explained in the category guide Bitcoin taxes in Germany.