Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 of 17 October 2023, known as DAC8, entered into force on 12 December 2023 and amended Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation. Member States must transpose DAC8 into national law by 31 December 2025, with the reporting obligations applying to reportable transactions completed from 1 January 2026 onward. DAC8 is fully operative as of the 2026 reporting year, with the first automatic exchange of information between tax authorities due by 31 December 2026. The directive is at the final, effective stage in EU law; national implementation is a transposition obligation rather than an option.
DAC8 inserts a new Section III bis into Directive 2011/16/EU. Article 8ad sets the core obligation: crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) operating within or providing services to EU-resident users must collect, verify, and report specified information to the competent tax authority of the Member State where the CASP is registered or has its registered address. The reportable data includes user identification information, tax identification numbers, residential addresses, aggregate transaction values, and the type of crypto-asset transferred. The directive defines "crypto-asset" by reference to Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA), covering assets not excluded under Article 2(2) to (4) of MiCA. Article 8ad(3) lists the categories of transfers subject to reporting, including exchanges for fiat currency, exchanges between crypto-assets, and transfers to wallet addresses.
Crypto-asset service providers with EU-resident clients must implement compliance programs to collect and verify user data, calculate reportable aggregate values per crypto-asset type per calendar year, and transmit XML-format reports to the relevant competent authority. The obligation applies to providers established in a Member State and, under Article 8ad(1)(b), to providers established outside the EU that nonetheless provide services to EU-resident users. Providers that already report under equivalent third-country regimes designated by the Commission may be exempt from duplicative EU reporting under Article 8ad(6). Tax administrations will exchange the received data automatically with other Member States' tax authorities under Article 8(1) of DAC, enabling cross-border assessment of unreported crypto income.
CASPs operating from non-EU jurisdictions face the broadest exposure: they must either register with an EU Member State competent authority or demonstrate equivalent third-country reporting to avoid double compliance burdens. Member States may impose penalties for non-reporting at national level; the Directive does not harmonize the penalty amounts but requires penalties to be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive. Providers whose services qualify purely as decentralized and peer-to-peer without an intermediary may fall outside the CASP definition under MiCA and therefore outside DAC8 scope, though this question remains subject to national competent authority interpretation.
Our firm advises on DAC8 compliance, MiCA licensing, and cross-border digital asset regulatory matters, and maintains a dedicated partner network covering all EU jurisdictions. We invite crypto-asset operators, exchanges, and wallet providers to contact us to assess their reporting obligations under DAC8. We regularly advise on: DAC8 transposition analysis, CASP registration, MiCA licensing, crypto-asset AML compliance, tax reporting for digital assets, and cross-border information exchange procedures.
Source: Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226 of 17 October 2023 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation, OJ L 2023/2226, 24.10.2023; Art. 8ad, Section III bis; available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023L2226; confirmed current 1 May 2026.
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