Taxation when trading CFDs

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CFDs are derivatives and are therefore automatically subject to the final withholding tax. And it doesn't matter whether your broker is located abroad or not: you always have to pay tax on profits from CFD trading.

Unfortunately, many CFD brokers treat the topic of taxes rather stepmotherly, often there is even no information at all on the website. This applies especially to foreign brokers who have nothing to do with German tax law.

In order to be sufficiently informed in this case and not to commit tax evasion out of ignorance, we briefly explain the tax aspects of CFDs in the following section.

The taxation of capital gains

In order to understand the taxation of contracts for difference, we should take a closer look at some basics of tax law. On this basis, we will then take a closer look at some scenarios by way of example.

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Investment income

Every form of capital investment serves to generate income, for example in the form of dividends, interest or an increase in value. For this reason, interest from savings accounts, nominal profits from the sale of securities, or even profits from CFD trading belong to capital gains.

The capital gains tax is often also referred to as the final withholding tax. It amounts to 25 percent of the income generated. In addition, there is the well-known solidarity surcharge of 5.5 percent and possibly church tax.

However, if your personal tax rate is lower, the final withholding tax is levied in the amount of your personal tax rate. Every investor - and therefore also children - is entitled to the so-called saver's allowance. If the investment income is below the flat-rate amount, no final withholding tax has to be paid. However, as soon as the income from interest or dividends exceeds this amount, everything above this amount is subject to tax.

Currently, the lump sum for savers is EUR 801 for single persons and EUR 1,602 for married couples.

Advantage of tax deferral

Brokers automatically deduct the final withholding tax from your CFD profits. This means that you do not have to take care of this yourself, but 25 percent of your earnings are now missing for new investments.

Foreign brokers have a decisive advantage here! Such a broker - for example the exness client area - is not subject to German tax law. Here you have to record your profits and losses yourself and report them to your tax office - but only after the end of a tax year and not after every trade you close!

This means that you can fully reinvest the profits you have made within the current year and thus achieve higher returns. This principle is called tax deferral.


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