How crypto is taxed when you live abroad
Crypto is taxed like any other asset: where you are tax resident when you dispose of it. The OECD Model Tax Convention, the template for most tax treaties, gives a gain on any property not covered by its earlier paragraphs, which takes in crypto, only to the state where the seller is resident (Article 13(5)).
Treaties split investment income by type. Rent can be taxed where the property is (Article 6), a pension from past private employment only where you live (Article 18), and a crypto gain only where you live on the day you sell. Under a treaty, where the exchange is based or where the keys are stored does not move the gain.
For crypto, digital nomad taxes come down to 2 steps: find your tax residency on the date of each disposal, then apply that country's rules. Domestic law decides what counts as a disposal and at what rate; the treaty does not set the rate, it decides which country may charge it.
The year of a move is the risky one. A new country can treat you as resident within months while the old one still sees your home, and dual tax residency is settled by a treaty's tie-breakers in order: a permanent home first, then closer personal and economic ties, then habitual abode (OECD Model Article 4(2)).
What triggers crypto tax: sales, swaps, spending and staking
A disposal is wider than a sale for cash. HMRC counts selling tokens for money, exchanging them for a different type of token, using them to pay for goods or services and giving them away, except to a spouse or civil partner, as disposals for capital gains tax.
The US rule is the same in substance. The IRS treats digital assets as property, not currency, so a sale, a swap for another digital asset and a payment for goods or services are all disposals, while mining and staking rewards are reported as income.
Portugal treats swaps differently. When crypto is paid for with other crypto there is no tax, and the coins received take the acquisition cost of the coins given up (CIRS Article 10(23)). The gain is taxed later, when the coins are sold for money or when you stop being resident.
Switzerland leaves private gains on payment tokens untaxed but taxes staking rewards and airdrops as income from movable assets (ESTV).
Crypto tax by country: where residents can pay nothing
Of the crypto tax-free countries, these 7 cover both kinds of exemption: 5 charge a resident nothing on privately held gains and 2 stop taxing them after a holding period. Each comes with a condition that decides whether the exemption reaches you.
Crypto gains for a resident individual, checked October 12, 2026
| Country | Crypto gains for a resident | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | Not taxed: no personal income tax and no capital gains tax on individuals (PwC) | UAE tax residence takes 183 days, or 90 days with a residence permit and a home or business there |
| Singapore | Not taxed: gains on digital tokens are generally personal investments (IRAS) | Singapore tax residence takes 183 days in the calendar year or a work pass of at least 1 year |
| Hong Kong | Not taxed: capital gains of individuals are outside the tax (PwC) | Residence does not decide tax under Hong Kong's source-based system; a certificate for treaty claims goes to people who ordinarily reside in Hong Kong, or stay more than 180 days in a year of assessment or more than 300 days in 2 consecutive years (IRD) |
| Switzerland | Not taxed for private investors: gains on payment tokens held privately are tax-free (ESTV) | Cantonal wealth tax on the year-end value; staking and airdrops are income; professional trading is taxed. Swiss residence starts on moving in with the intention to stay, or after 30 days working or 90 days not working (DBG art. 3) |
| Monaco | Not taxed: residents other than French nationals pay no income tax (Government of Monaco) | French nationals are taxed under the 1963 France-Monaco convention; a Monaco residence permit needs more than 3 months a year there |
| Portugal | Excluded after 365 days held; 28% before (CIRS Article 72) | Leaving Portugal counts as a disposal. The rules cover crypto that is not a security (Article 10(1)(k)), and the 365-day exclusion does not apply when the income is earned or owed by someone resident outside the EU/EEA in a jurisdiction with no tax treaty or information-exchange agreement with Portugal (CIRS Article 10(24), as read by Abreu Advogados). Portuguese residence starts at more than 183 days or with a home kept as a habitual residence |
| Czechia | Exempt after more than 3 years, up to CZK 40,000,000 (about $1.87 million) of sales a year, or at any holding period when a year's sales total CZK 100,000 (about $4,660) or less (Income Tax Act § 4) | Neither exemption covers crypto held as a business asset; Czech residence starts at 183 days or with a permanent home |
Where a country does tax crypto, the holding period sets the rate. Portugal charges a flat 28% on coins held under 365 days (CIRS Article 72) and nothing from day 365 (Article 10(22)), Czechia taxes coins sold within 3 years as ordinary income at up to 23% (PwC), and the UK charges capital gains tax at up to 24% however long you held (GOV.UK).
- United States
- Portugal
- United Kingdom
- Czechia
Source: Each country's tax authority or statute, and PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries for Czechia's income tax rates, listed under Sources The 5 table countries that do not tax private crypto gains stay at 0% throughout; Czechia's 0% after 3 years applies within its yearly sales cap.
Show the numbers
| Held 6 months | Held 18 months | Held 4 years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 37% | 20% | 20% |
| Portugal | 28% | 0% | 0% |
| United Kingdom | 24% | 24% | 24% |
| Czechia | 23% | 23% | 0% |
Tax-free for investors, not for traders
Switzerland's exemption covers private asset management. When the scale, frequency or financing of your trades goes beyond that, the ESTV treats the gains as self-employment income, taxed like any business profit. Singapore's own wording is that token gains are generally personal investments. Check how your activity is classified before planning on paying nothing.
Crypto exit taxes: when leaving counts as selling
Some countries treat leaving as a sale: the coins are deemed sold on a set date, and the gain up to that date is taxed even though you still hold them.
Exit rules that reach crypto in 5 countries
| Move | Trigger | What is taxed | Way to defer or avoid it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leaving Canada | Ceasing to be resident | Most property is deemed disposed of at fair market value on departure; exceptions include Canadian real estate | Elect on Form T1244 by April 30 of the year after you leave to defer payment until you sell; security is required when the federal tax on the deemed disposition is more than CAD 16,500 (CAD 13,777.50 for former Quebec residents) |
| Leaving Australia | Ceasing to be resident | Assets that are not taxable Australian property are deemed disposed of, and the gain falls in the year you leave (PwC) | Elect to keep the assets in the Australian tax net: the gain is taxed when a later event such as a sale happens (Sladen Legal), and a non-resident gets no CGT discount on gains accrued after May 8, 2012 |
| Leaving Portugal | Losing Portuguese residence | Treated as a disposal of crypto (CIRS Article 10(25)); coins held under 365 days pay 28% | Holding the coins 365 days or more before you leave (Article 10(22)) |
| Renouncing US citizenship | Giving up citizenship, or ending long-term US residency, as a covered expatriate | All property deemed sold at fair market value the day before expatriation; gains above $910,000 (2026) | Not being a covered expatriate |
| Leaving the UK and returning | Returning within 5 years | Gains made abroad on assets held before leaving, taxed in the year of return | Staying non-resident for more than 5 years |
Canada's rule is the broadest. The CRA treats an emigrant as having disposed of most property at fair market value on leaving. The exceptions include Canadian real or immovable property, resource property, and property you already owned when you last became resident, if you were resident for 60 months or less in the 10 years before you left: coins brought in for a short stay can escape, coins bought in Canada cannot.
The UK has no exit charge but a return rule. If you were solely UK resident in at least 4 of the 7 tax years before leaving and come back within 5 years, gains you made abroad on assets you held before leaving are taxed in the year you return, while assets bought after leaving are generally outside the rule (HMRC HS278).
The US applies a deemed sale only when a citizen renounces citizenship, or a long-term green card holder ends US residency, as a covered expatriate, for example with a net worth of $2 million or more (IRS): all property is treated as sold at fair market value the day before expatriation, and gains above an exclusion of $910,000 for 2026 are taxed (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
Selling before or after you move
Timing a crypto sale around a move follows the same logic as capital gains tax when moving abroad on shares: the gain goes to the country where you are resident on the sale date, so the date is the lever you control.
Selling after the move works when the new country exempts the gain, your old residence has clearly ended, and no exit or return rule reaches the coins. Selling before the move makes sense when the old country charges less than the new one, or when an exit tax would catch the gain anyway.
Holding periods can matter more than the move itself. A Portuguese resident whose coins are 300 days old pays nothing by waiting 65 days, whether the coins are then sold or residence ends.
| Sold November 11, 2026, after 300 days28% flat rate | €8,400 (about $9,560) |
|---|---|
| Portuguese residence ends November 11, 2026, coins keptLeaving counts as a disposal | €8,400 (about $9,560) |
| Sold, or residence ends, on or after January 15, 2027Held 365 days or more: excluded | €0 |
CIRS Articles 10 and 72, read at Portal das Finanças on October 12, 2026.
Leaving the UK for Dubai with crypto
Clean
Solely UK resident for 12 years, she leaves in May 2026, becomes UAE resident and sells bitcoin bought in 2021 during her second year in Dubai. She stays non-UK resident until 2032, so the 5-year window closes and neither country taxes the gain.
Caught
Same sale in her second year, but she moves back to London in her fourth year. The gain is treated as made in the tax year she returns and pays UK capital gains tax at up to 24% (GOV.UK), with no UAE tax to credit against it.
US citizens: crypto gains stay taxable in the US
A US passport keeps the US in every sale. The US taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live (IRS), so for US expats a move to a country that exempts crypto gains leaves the federal tax on them where it was.
Coins held more than 1 year produce long-term gains taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on taxable income, and shorter holdings are taxed as ordinary income (IRS Topic 409), where the top federal rate is 37% (IRS). On top of either rate, the 3.8% net investment income tax reaches capital gains once modified adjusted gross income passes $200,000 for a single filer or $250,000 for a married couple filing jointly (IRS).
The foreign earned income exclusion does not reach crypto: it covers income received for services performed abroad, and the IRS lists capital gains as unearned income (IRS).
Exchanges now report crypto to your tax residence
Crypto platforms are joining the reporting banks already do under the Common Reporting Standard. In the EU, DAC8, which is based on the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, took effect on January 1, 2026: crypto-asset service providers collect data on every EU-resident user's transactions, and the 2026 data reaches the tax authority of each user's EU country of residence by September 30, 2027 (European Commission).
The report covers acquisitions and disposals against money or other crypto and goes to the country of residence the platform holds for you, so update it when your residence actually changes, not before.
The UK applies the same framework from the same date: since January 1, 2026, UK crypto platforms carry out due diligence on customers resident in the UK and in the partner countries on HMRC's list, and report their transactions to HMRC every year (HMRC CRYPTO49000).
Moving with crypto: the steps in order
Before you move with crypto
- Export the full history of every exchange and wallet, with purchase dates and costs.
- Record the market value of each holding on the day you leave.
- Check whether the country you are leaving taxes departure, as Canada, Australia and Portugal do, and whether you can defer.
- Check the holding-period clocks: 365 days in Portugal, more than 3 years in Czechia.
- Confirm the date your old residence ends and the new one starts, and plan large sales after both.
- Leaving the UK and might come back within 5 years? A sale abroad of coins held on departure is taxed in the year you return (HMRC HS278).
- Update your tax residence with every exchange once the move is done.
David's note
I would not sell a large position in the year of a move. I would wait until the old country's residence tests are clearly failed and the new country has issued a tax residency certificate, because that certificate is the evidence a treaty claim rests on if the old country later says you still lived there.
