What is DAC8?

The European Union directive extending automatic exchange of tax information to crypto-asset transactions, requiring reporting providers to collect user tax residence details and report transactions to tax authorities that then share them across member states.

It aligns the bloc with the OECD's crypto reporting framework and folds crypto into the same administrative cooperation machinery already used for bank accounts and financial accounts. The primary source is Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226, the eighth amendment to the directive on administrative cooperation, which is where the name comes from.

The practical effect for a buyer is that using a platform in another member state does not keep activity away from the tax authority where you live. The data crosses borders by default rather than on request.

How it works

A directive is not directly applicable law. Each member state must transpose it into national legislation, and the local implementing act sets the detail, the penalties, and in some cases the exact timing. RampAtlas could not confirm a per-country transposition status at the time of writing, so check your own tax authority's guidance rather than assuming a uniform start.

Obligations fall on reporting crypto-asset service providers, a category aligned with the casp definition under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation but broader in places, since a firm can be in scope for reporting without being authorized as a service provider.

Providers must collect a self-certification of tax residence from every user, apply due diligence to verify it against the information they already hold, and report per user and per year. Reported items cover exchanges between crypto and fiat, exchanges between crypto-assets, and transfers, including transfers to addresses outside the provider network.

The receiving authority then transmits the data to the member state of the user's residence, and to third countries where an equivalent exchange agreement exists. See carf for the OECD standard the directive implements.

Example

Illustrative. You are tax resident in one member state and trade on a platform established in another. At signup the platform collects your tax residence declaration. At year end it reports your annual totals to its own national authority, which forwards them to yours. When you file, the disposals you declare are compared against figures your tax office already holds, without either authority having to ask the platform for anything.

Why it matters when you buy

Choosing a venue in another member state changes very little about what your tax authority can see, so the useful selection criteria remain cost, availability, and the quality of the annual statements you receive. The tax pages cover how each jurisdiction treats a disposal, and the exchange pages record where each venue is established.

Related terms

carf — the OECD framework this implements; casp — the authorization category it overlaps; mica — the European regulation governing the same firms; taxable event — what actually creates liability; travel rule — the separate anti-money-laundering data requirement.

Questions

Does it apply to non-European exchanges?

It reaches providers with a sufficient connection to the European Union, and the OECD framework is designed so that other adopting jurisdictions exchange comparable data with member states. A platform entirely outside both regimes is a narrower case and depends on that country's own arrangements.

What exactly is reported about me?

Identifying details including your declared tax residence, plus annual aggregate values for fiat exchanges, crypto-to-crypto exchanges, and transfers. It is an annual summary rather than a transaction-by-transaction feed.

Do I still need to keep my own records?

Yes. What is reported are aggregates, not a computed gain, and your liability depends on cost basis the provider often does not know, particularly for coins deposited from elsewhere.