Crypto Tax-Loss Harvesting: The Rules in 10 Countries

The short answer: selling crypto at a loss to offset taxable gains is legal in all ten countries our calculator covers, but only the US still lets you buy back immediately (no crypto wash-sale rule as of 2026) — most others impose repurchase windows of two weeks to two months, and India disallows crypto loss offsets entirely.

Every bear market mints two kinds of crypto investors: those holding unrealized losses, and those holding unrealized losses that have already cut their tax bill. The difference is one transaction. But whether that transaction works — and whether you can buy back in afterward — depends entirely on where you file. Here’s the map for all ten countries our tax calculator covers.

What harvesting actually does

You bought a coin; it’s down; you still believe in it. Doing nothing leaves you with a paper loss. Selling realizes the loss, which (in most countries) offsets realized gains from this year — crypto or otherwise — and the saved tax is cash you keep. The controversial part is step three: buying the position back, so your portfolio barely changes while your tax bill shrinks. That’s exactly what wash-sale rules exist to police, and they differ more than any other rule in crypto taxation.

The country table

Country	Rebuy restriction	The catch
US	None for crypto (2026)	§1091 covers securities; crypto is property. Proposals to change this keep appearing.
UK	Same-day + 30-day “bed & breakfast” rules	Rebuys within 30 days match against the new cost, neutralizing the harvest.
Canada	Superficial-loss rule: 30 days each side	Applies to you and your spouse or corporation — the widest net here.
Australia	No fixed window — purpose test	ATO’s TA 2008/7 targets wash sales; a sell-and-rebuy done “to obtain a tax benefit” can be struck down.
Germany	None	But losses only exist inside the 1-year window — and a rebuy restarts the tax-free clock on the whole position.
France	None — but swaps don’t count	You must sell to fiat to realize the loss; losses offset only same-year digital-asset gains, no carryforward.
Italy	None — like-for-like swaps don’t count	Exit to euros or an e-money stablecoin to realize; losses carry forward 4 years.
Spain	2-month homogeneous-asset rule	Rebuy inside 2 months defers the loss until the final disposal.
Ireland	4-week rule	Losses on assets rebought within 4 weeks are restricted to gains on that same asset.
India	Irrelevant	§115BBH bars offsetting VDA losses against anything at all. Harvesting achieves nothing.

Three traps that cost real money

The German clock reset. Germany has no wash-sale rule, which sounds generous — but its headline benefit is the 1-year total exemption, and a harvest-and-rebuy starts that year over. Harvesting a coin you’ve held for 11 months trades a small loss deduction today for taxable status on the entire position for another 12 months. Do that math before, not after.

The French fiat requirement. In France (and largely Italy), swapping a losing coin into a stablecoin-shaped placeholder doesn’t realize anything — swaps aren’t disposals there. The harvest requires actually touching euros, which also drags your other accumulated gains into that year’s proceeds. The friendly swap rule cuts both ways.

The Indian wall. India’s regime taxes every gain at 30% and recognizes no crypto losses whatsoever — not against other coins, not carried forward. Portfolio-level thinking that’s second nature elsewhere simply doesn’t apply.

Doing it properly

1. Harvest what you’d hold anyway, or genuinely exit. The strategies that survive audits are the ones with economic substance — waiting out the window, or switching to a different asset you also want.
2. Mind the year boundary. In most systems, losses first offset the current year’s gains; check whether unused losses carry forward (UK, Ireland, Canada, Italy: yes; France: no) before deciding which year to realize in.
3. Recompute your cost basis after the rebuy. Deferred losses usually attach to the new position’s basis — the cost basis guide covers how pooling and FIFO interact with it.
4. Size the prize first. Multiply the loss by your marginal gains rate — the calculator gives you that rate in two inputs. A four-figure loss at 24% funds a nice dinner, not a strategy overhaul.

For how much a gain costs in each of the same ten countries — the other side of this ledger — see the $10,000-profit study.

Educational summary, verified 12 July 2026 — not tax advice. Anti-abuse rules are judgment calls by nature; get a professional’s sign-off before executing a large harvest.