You sold crypto in 2025 and you lost money. The good news: those losses have tax value. You can use them to reduce what you pay, both this year and over the following four.
The catch is that working it out properly is far from simple. You have to apply the FIFO method to every transaction, identify which sales produced real losses and apply the offsetting rules in the right order. That is exactly what we do at CryptoImpuestos.
How is crypto taxed in Spain?
When you sell, swap or exchange crypto, you generate a capital gain or capital loss that is taxed in the savings tax base of IRPF. The bands for the Renta 2025 return are:
| Savings tax base | Tax rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €6,000 | 19% |
| €6,000 to €50,000 | 21% |
| €50,000 to €200,000 | 23% |
| €200,000 to €300,000 | 27% |
| Over €300,000 | 30% |
This applies to sales into euros, crypto-to-crypto swaps, payments made in crypto and any other transaction that involves a disposal.
What if I made losses?
If your transactions come out negative (you sold for less than you paid), those losses can be used to cut your tax bill. This is what the Spanish tax agency calls offsetting capital losses.
Step 1: offset against gains in the same year
Crypto losses are first offset against capital gains from the same tax year. That includes:
- Gains on sales of other crypto
- Gains on sales of shares or funds
- Any other capital gain
Example: you made €5,000 selling Bitcoin but lost €3,000 selling Ethereum. You are taxed on €2,000 of net gain only.
Step 2: offset against investment income (25% limit)
If losses are still left after offsetting gains, you can offset up to 25% of your positive investment income. That includes:
- Interest on bank accounts
- Dividends from shares
- Crypto staking and lending income
- Fixed-income coupons
Example: you have €4,000 of unrelieved crypto losses and €8,000 of staking income. You can offset up to 25% of that income: €2,000. That leaves €2,000 of losses still pending.
Step 3: carry forward for the next 4 years
Losses you cannot offset in 2025 are carried forward to the next 4 tax years (2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029), applying the same order and the same limits.
Which means losses calculated properly today can save you tax for four years to come.
The FIFO method: the key to calculating losses correctly
The tax agency requires the FIFO (First In, First Out) method: the oldest coins are treated as the ones sold first. That has a direct impact on how gains and losses are calculated.
A worked example:
| Transaction | Date | Amount | Unit price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase 1 | January 2024 | 0.5 BTC | €40,000 |
| Purchase 2 | July 2024 | 0.5 BTC | €60,000 |
| Sale | March 2025 | 0.5 BTC | €45,000 |
Under FIFO, the 0.5 BTC sold are the ones from Purchase 1 (the oldest):
- Acquisition price: 0.5 × €40,000 = €20,000
- Sale price: 0.5 × €45,000 = €22,500
- Result: a gain of €2,500
Had you used the coins from Purchase 2 (which is not allowed), the result would have been a loss of €7,500. The method matters, and it matters a lot.
Now picture that multiplied by hundreds of transactions across several exchanges, with crypto-to-crypto swaps, withdrawals to wallets, staking, airdrops and the rest. Getting FIFO right requires complete traceability.
Common mistakes when reporting losses
1. Not filing because “I only lost money”
Even with no gains, reporting your losses matters. If you do not report them, you lose the right to offset them over the next 4 years. That saving simply disappears.
2. Calculating FIFO within a single exchange
If you bought Bitcoin on Binance and transferred it to Kraken to sell it, the acquisition price is still the Binance one. Plenty of investors get this wrong because they treat each exchange as a world of its own.
3. Forgetting crypto-to-crypto swaps
Every swap (BTC → ETH, for instance) is a disposal that produces a gain or a loss. It is not only when you “cash out to euros”. Many investors build up losses in swaps without realising it.
4. Ignoring fees
Trading, withdrawal and transfer fees are part of the calculation. Including them reduces the gain (or increases the loss), which works in your favour.
How we do it at CryptoImpuestos
Our service covers everything needed for your losses to be calculated and reported correctly:
- We download your full history from every exchange and wallet
- We trace each coin from the original purchase to the final sale, transfers between platforms included
- We apply global FIFO — not exchange by exchange, but across all your transactions together
- We identify every real loss, swaps and fees included
- We prepare your tax return with the losses properly offset and, where there is a surplus, set up to carry forward over the next 4 years
What if I have earlier years I never reported?
If you have losses from earlier tax years that you never reported, we can file amended returns to regularise your position and recover those losses still available for offset. There is more in our guide to amended returns.
The short version
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Where crypto losses are taxed | The savings tax base of IRPF |
| Direct offset | Against capital gains in the same year |
| Cross offset | Up to 25% of investment income |
| Carry forward | The next 4 tax years (2026–2029) |
| Calculation method | FIFO, compulsory |
| AEAT box | Ganancias y pérdidas por transmisión de monedas virtuales (gains and losses on the transfer of virtual currencies) |
Sitting on crypto losses and not sure how to report them?
At CryptoImpuestos we calculate every gain and loss under the FIFO method, identify the offsets that work in your favour and prepare your complete tax return.
Get in touch and we will help you put those losses to work.
Víctor Lázaro
Tax adviser, Cryptoimpuestos.es
