- DAC8 places no obligation on accountants. The Slovak tax administration will, however, compare exchange reports with the tax return the accountant prepared.
- The 2026 tax return is due by 31 March 2027. Exchange data arrives only afterwards, on 31 May and 30 September 2027.
- Exchanges report gross annual totals of sales, exchanges and transfers. They report neither the gain nor the acquisition cost.
- The most common mismatches: the return shows only the net gain, or crypto-to-crypto exchanges or one of the exchanges are missing.
Does DAC8 create any obligation for accountants?
No. The obligation to collect client data and report their transactions lies with crypto-asset service providers (CASPs): exchanges, brokers and custodial wallet providers. It follows from Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226, known as DAC8, which Slovakia transposed by Act No. 200/2025 Coll. into Act No. 359/2015 Coll. on the automatic exchange of information.
DAC8 affects accountants indirectly. The tax administration compares the exchange report with the client's tax return, and returns of small businesses and employees with side income are most often prepared by accountants. If the figures do not match, the natural next step is a question from the tax office, and the client takes it back to whoever prepared the return.
The Slovak Income Tax Act uses the term kryptoaktívum (crypto-asset), older texts speak of virtuálna mena (virtual currency). In this article they mean the same as cryptocurrencies.
Why the order of dates matters
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 Jan 2026 | providers start collecting data on clients and their transactions |
| 31 Mar 2027 | deadline for the 2026 tax return, later with an extension |
| 31 May 2027 | providers reporting in Slovakia submit 2026 data to the tax administration |
| 30 Sep 2027 | exchange between states: data on Slovak residents from providers in other EU countries |
The 2026 return is filed before the tax administration receives the first exchange data. The client therefore cannot wait to see what the exchange reports and adjust the return accordingly. The tax office will compare the data with a return that has already been filed, and 2026 returns will be the first for which this is possible. What data the exchange asks the client for, and why, is covered in detail on the page Exchange asking for your TIN: what it reports under DAC8.
What the exchange reports and what it corresponds to in the return
The report does not contain a list of transactions. For each client and each type of crypto-asset the provider reports annual totals (Section 15h(9) of Act No. 359/2015 Coll.). The key point for accountants is that these are gross amounts, not gains.
| Item in the report | Meaning for the return | What the report does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Purchases for euros and other currencies | Not income. They form the basis of the acquisition cost, which is deducted as an expense only on sale or exchange. | which of the purchased units the client sold and which they still hold |
| Sales for euros and other currencies | Gross income from the transfer of crypto-assets under Section 8 of the Income Tax Act. | the acquisition cost of the units sold, i.e. the expense |
| Crypto-to-crypto exchanges | The side disposed of is income, even though no euros reached the account. The value of the coin acquired is its acquisition cost. This also applies to exchanges into a stablecoin such as USDC. | whether the client sees the exchange as a trade at all |
| Transfers to and from the client | Neither income nor expense in themselves. | whether it is a move between own accounts, a reward, a gift or a payment |
| Transfers to private addresses | A move to the client's own wallet is not a sale and is not taxed. | who the address belongs to, which the client must be able to show |
| Payments for goods and services above 50,000 USD | Paying for goods or services with crypto is a transfer of a crypto-asset and therefore income. | the acquisition cost of the coins used |
The table gives a simple check. Crypto income in the return should not be lower than the total of sales, exchanges and payments reported about the client by all providers. An exact match cannot be expected, as fees and exchange rates create differences. Broadly, however, the figures should agree.
The expense, i.e. the acquisition cost, is not in the report at all. It has to be calculated using the FIFO method with EUR rates on the transaction date, from the client's entire purchase history, often including years before 2026 and across several platforms. This is the most laborious part of a crypto tax return.
Where mismatches arise even though the client hid nothing
Most mismatches do not arise because the client concealed something. They arise because the documents the client brings do not correspond to what the tax office will see.
1. Gain instead of income and expense. Crypto tax software and exchange summaries often show the gain as the headline figure. If it is entered in the return as income with no expense, the tax comes out the same, but the income in the return is a fraction of what the exchange reports. Example: the client sold crypto for 40,000 € that cost 38,000 €. The exchange reports sales of 40,000 €. The return should show income of 40,000 € and an expense of 38,000 €, not income of 2,000 €.
2. Exchanges and stablecoins. The client says they sold nothing, they only "moved" bitcoin into USDC or another coin. In the report such an exchange appears at fair market value, and in the return it should be shown as income. More in the article on spot trading and tax.
3. Transfers to the client's own wallet. The exchange reports the total value of transfers to private addresses. That is not income, but the tax office does not know whether the address belongs to the client or to someone the client sold to. The client should be able to show that it is their own wallet. The opposite problem arises in software that labels such a transfer as a sale on its own.
4. One exchange out of several. The client brings an export from the platform they use most. All providers where they had an account will report, however, including foreign EU providers whose data arrives through the exchange between states by 30 September 2027. This includes apps with a crypto card, where every payment is a sale of crypto (see the article on crypto cards).
5. Acquisition cost from earlier years. A sale in 2026 needs an acquisition cost, which the report does not contain. If the client obtained the coin through an exchange in an earlier year, its acquisition cost is its value on the day of that exchange, and the exchange itself was taxable in the year it took place. A missing acquisition cost is not replaced with zero. It can be reconstructed from other sources, such as bank transfers, on-chain data and historical rates.
Other common errors, such as applying a one-year holding period or deducting a crypto loss from other income, are listed on the page for accountants.
How to find out which exchanges will report the client
The simplest way is to ask the client which platforms asked them in 2026 for a tax identification number and country of tax residence. Every provider that will report must collect this data (Section 15g), and this also applies to clients who already had an account on 31 December 2025.
The client is obliged to provide the data (Section 17(2)). If they fail to do so after two reminders, the provider blocks reportable transactions no earlier than 60 days after the first request (Section 22(16)). False data can lead to a fine of up to 3,000 € (Section 23(6)). Most clients have therefore already given the data to their exchanges, even if they do not connect it with tax.
The second source is bank statements. Payments to and from an exchange also reveal platforms the client no longer remembers. The list of these platforms is also the list of reports the tax office will compare the return with.
A message for clients with crypto
A text that can be sent to clients in January together with the usual request for tax return documents (the Slovak version is in the Slovak article):
Hello,
for your 2026 tax return I will also need documents on your crypto, if you traded it in 2026. From this year exchanges report their clients' transactions to the tax administration, which will compare them with the filed return.
Please send me by the end of January:
- a list of all exchanges, brokers and apps where you held crypto in 2026, including those you no longer use,
- an annual statement or transaction export from each of them, ideally in CSV format,
- the public addresses of your own wallets, such as a hardware wallet or MetaMask, if you moved crypto to them,
- whether you exchanged crypto for other crypto or for stablecoins, paid with it or had staking,
- if you bought crypto before 2026, where and roughly when.
Please do not send passwords, private keys or seed phrases. They are not needed and no one authorised will ever ask you for them.
Thank you.
Clients with a limited company (s.r.o.) and DAC8
DAC8 also applies to companies. An s.r.o. is also a crypto-asset user, the provider collects its data and, for some companies, the data of the persons controlling it. The report on the company is then compared with its accounts and its corporate tax return.
In the accounts, crypto-assets are measured on exchange at fair value on the date of the exchange, determined from the chosen public market in the same way throughout the accounting period. It is sensible to record the choice of market and the procedure in an internal policy.
Transfers between a shareholder and the company deserve attention. A transfer of crypto from an individual to the company is a sale on the individual's side and may appear in the reports on both sides. The accounting and measurement method is described on the page A company that trades: accounting and tax.
What about the client's earlier years
DAC8 reports cover transactions from 1 January 2026. The years 2021 to 2025 will not be in them. Earlier years can, however, surface indirectly through the acquisition cost, as described above.
If preparing the documents reveals that the client did not declare crypto income in the past, the cheapest solution is an amended return before an audit starts. The penalty is then at least 3% a year of the tax difference, compared with at least 10% a year when the difference is found in an audit. The procedure and deadlines are in the article The tax office and your crypto: notices, audits and amended returns.
When to hand over the crypto part
| Client situation | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| a few purchases and sales for euros on one exchange, complete export | you can handle it yourself, often faster |
| several exchanges and wallets, transfers between them | worth having the documents processed |
| exchanges, staking, airdrops, DeFi or liquidity pools | worth having the documents processed |
| the exchange no longer exists, purchase records are missing or several years are involved | processing with reconstruction, the sooner the better |
kryptotax.sk processes the crypto part of the return: a summary of income and expenses for the return, a working file in XLSX and PDF with each sale matched to a purchase, a comparison with what the exchanges are likely to report, and a list of open questions. The accountant files the return as before and the client remains theirs. Prices start at 149 € and the fixed price is known in advance. Details are on the page cooperation for accountants, scopes and prices on the page crypto transaction processing. Capacity in March is limited, so it is better to send clients with crypto in January.
Frequently asked questions
Does DAC8 create a reporting obligation for accountants? No. The obligation to collect client data and report transactions lies with crypto-asset service providers, i.e. exchanges, brokers and custodial wallet providers. DAC8 affects accountants through the client's tax return, which the tax administration compares with the reports.
Will the exchange report the client's gain? No. The exchange reports annual totals of sales, exchanges, transfers and larger payments for each type of crypto-asset. It does not report the acquisition cost and therefore not the gain either. The gain has to be calculated using FIFO from the full purchase history.
Is crypto exempt after one year of holding in Slovakia? Not for crypto held directly by an individual. A 7% rate for holdings over one year was passed in 2023 but repealed before it took effect. The one-year exemption applies to securities under Section 9(1)(k) of the Income Tax Act, for example crypto ETPs sold on a regulated market.
The client trades on a foreign exchange. Will anyone report it? Providers in other EU countries report to their own tax administration, which sends the data to Slovakia by 30 September of the following year. Non-EU countries are joining gradually through the OECD framework (CARF). The obligation to declare income does not depend on whether anyone reports it.
Can a crypto loss be deducted from employment or business income? No. A loss cannot be deducted from other types of income. Gains and losses are offset only within the same type of income and the same tax period, so decisions on realising losses must be made by 31 December.
What if the client did not give the exchange their tax identification number? After two reminders and no earlier than 60 days from the first request, the provider blocks reportable transactions (Section 22(16) of Act No. 359/2015 Coll.). False data can lead to a fine of up to 3,000 €. The obligation to declare crypto income remains.
When is the 2026 tax return due? By 31 March 2027, later with an extension. Exchanges operating in Slovakia submit 2026 data by 31 May 2027, and data from other EU countries arrives by 30 September 2027, i.e. after the return has been filed.
This article is a general overview, not individual tax advice. The basics are in the article Crypto taxation in Slovakia.
Source: Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8), Act No. 359/2015 Coll. on the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts and crypto-assets as amended by Act No. 200/2025 Coll., in particular Sections 15g, 15h, 17, 22 and 23, Act No. 595/2003 Coll. on income tax, Section 8 and Section 9(1)(k), Act No. 431/2002 Coll. on accounting.