CARF and DAC8 crypto reporting in Ireland

From 1 January 2026, crypto-asset service providers in the EU must collect their users' tax details, including a tax identification number, and report annual totals to the tax authority. In Ireland that means reports to Revenue, with the first return, covering 2026, due by 31 May 2027. What is reported is gross acquisition and disposal amounts, not your calculated gains, so you still have to work out and declare your own capital gains tax.

This is the framework known as CARF (the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework), brought into EU law by DAC8, the eighth version of the Directive on Administrative Cooperation, as Council Directive (EU) 2023/2226. It is not a new tax, and it does not change what you owe. It changes how much Revenue can see. This page is an explanation of published Revenue material checked on 5 October 2026; Budget 2027 follows on 6 October 2026.

Where the rules come from

In Ireland, the obligations sit in the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, in provisions inserted by Finance Act 2025 and by S.I. No. 584 of 2025, together with the European Union (Administrative Cooperation in the Field of Taxation) Regulations 2025. Revenue's DAC8 page, published on 30 March 2026, explains the scheme, and its detailed Tax and Duty Manual on reporting obligations was updated in September 2026. Revenue also issued eBrief 121/26 on 24 August 2026. The duty lies on "reporting crypto-asset service providers", which Revenue's guidance defines in detail; for ordinary readers it means the exchanges, brokers and similar firms you deal with.

The news coverage began on the first day. The Irish Times reported on 1 January 2026 that the new reporting regime had started, according to the coverage listed in our research. We have not linked or quoted that article here, because we did not retrieve its text, and everything below rests on Revenue's own pages instead.

Timeline

What data is collected and reported

For each individual user, Revenue's guidance lists name, address, jurisdiction or Member State of residence, tax identification number, date of birth and, where required, place of birth. For Irish residents the TIN is connected to the PPS number, which is why platforms increasingly ask for it. For each crypto-asset, providers report details such as the asset's full name, the aggregate gross amount paid or received, the aggregate units and the number of transactions for purchases and sales against fiat currency, and transfers. Providers must also keep records for six years.

The point to hold on to is the word "gross". A report might say that in 2026 you bought €12,000 of Bitcoin across 14 transactions and sold €9,000 of it across 5. It does not say what you paid for the coins you sold, what fees you incurred or whether you made a gain. Those are the figures you have to calculate, using the method described in our guide to capital gains tax on crypto. The claim sometimes made online that "Revenue will know exactly what you owe" is wrong. What Revenue will have is a set of totals that can be compared with what you put in your return, and a mismatch is a reason for a query.

What this means in practice for you

If you use a regulated exchange, expect to be asked to confirm your name, address, date of birth, tax residence and TIN, probably on login or at your next withdrawal. Answer accurately. A false self-certification is a problem for you, not only for the platform. Providers must also give each reportable user a copy of the information sent to Revenue, which is an opportunity to compare it with your own records. If your own records show a very different picture, find out why before you file.

If you are resident in another EU Member State, or hold accounts in more than one, the same data may go to the other tax authority too, and Revenue exchanges information with other jurisdictions. Irish residents who use platforms outside the EU should not assume that is outside the system. We have not verified how the rules work for each overseas platform, so ask the provider.

Self-custody and peer-to-peer: why the gaps are not a plan

The reporting duty falls on service providers. Coins you hold on your own hardware wallet, and trades done directly with another person, do not pass through a reporting firm in the same way, so a gap exists in what is automatically reported. It is a gap in reporting, not in tax. Your obligation to declare disposals applies whether or not anyone reports them, and Revenue's manual says records held on a device or in a wallet must be made available on request. Cash out to a bank, and the bank sees it. Move coins to an exchange, and the exchange reports its own side. See our pages on peer-to-peer Bitcoin and the rules for regulated firms for the other side of that picture.

It would also be a mistake to treat DAC8 as the only source of information. Revenue has general powers to require books and records, and the Criminal Assets Bureau has been in the news; our page on lawful ways to reduce crypto tax covers the evasion side with sources. We make no claim here about what Revenue does or does not do with the data.

What to do now

Start by gathering your records. Download complete transaction histories from every platform you have used, going back as far as you can, and keep them for at least six years. Reconcile the transfers between your own wallets so that they are not mistaken for sales, and put a euro value on every swap. Check that your name, address and TIN on each platform are right.

Then look backwards. If your returns for earlier years are complete, the new reporting should be no surprise. If not, the sensible time to put things right is before Revenue writes to you; its code of practice treats a full disclosure made beforehand more favourably than one made after contact, though we have not quoted any detailed terms. A tax adviser can handle that. Our guide on how to report and pay crypto tax explains the filing side, and the crypto tax overview puts it in context.

Finally, keep an eye on the news from 6 October 2026. The Budget may or may not touch crypto, and nothing in this guide assumes that it will. What the CARF framework changes is not the rate but the visibility, and the practical response is to keep clean records and to report what you owe.

Questions people ask about the data

Will the information go to anyone else? Revenue's guidance says it exchanges the information it receives with other jurisdictions by 30 September, which is how CARF is designed to work: a provider reports to its own tax authority, and the authority passes on data about residents of other participating countries. Can you see it? The rules require providers to give each reportable user a copy of what was reported about them, due at the same point as the filing. Is the TIN the same as the PPS number? For Irish residents, Revenue's guidance links the two, which is why platforms may ask for a PPS number; check with the platform what it asks for and why.

What about old transactions? The first reporting period is calendar 2026, so the first returns do not contain 2025 activity as such. That does not mean earlier years are out of reach: Revenue can still ask about earlier years, and your own six-year record obligation continues. Our guide to reporting and paying sets out what to keep.

Reading the primary sources

If you want to read the rules directly, start with Revenue's DAC8 page, then the detailed manual, then the OECD's CARF material. The manual is written for firms, not users, so treat it as background rather than as a guide to your own return. To see which firms are authorised to serve Irish customers, use our page on authorised crypto firms in Ireland.

What it means for the Irish exchange user

Imagine you use a regulated exchange, buy and sell several times in 2026, and use the same platform's card to spend some of your balance. By 31 May 2027 the exchange sends Revenue your identifying details and the annual totals for acquisitions and disposals. You file your 2026 return by 31 October 2027 with a computed gain. If your return shows a disposal total far below the one the exchange reported, the difference is visible. If it shows a modest gain on large turnover, that is normal: turnover is not profit, and a big total does not mean a big tax bill. Your own working, with costs and fees, is what turns one into the other.

The simplest way to stay comfortable is to make sure your return and your records can be explained, line by line, from your exchange exports. If you have several platforms, the sum of what each reports should roughly match the activity in your own spreadsheet.