What is a reference date for crypto holdings?

The moment at which your holdings count, for example 1 January for box 3, the date of death or the reference date in a divorce.

Can a past reference date still be established?

Usually yes. The blockchain keeps the history, so the position on a date in the past can be reconstructed with the right addresses.

A publicly verifiable rate source, named in the overview, so a third party can recalculate the value.

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How do I record my crypto holdings on a reference date?

By R.T. (Tyler) Dijst, blockchain investigator at Paucitas

A reference date is the moment at which your holdings count: 1 January for box 3, the date of death in an estate, the reference date in a divorce or the date a bankruptcy is declared. Paucitas records which addresses and balances existed at that exact moment, with the source stated.

What Paucitas does with crypto holdings on a reference date

We start from the addresses and accounts you supply and reconstruct the position on the reference date: which tokens, which amounts, at which address or exchange. That includes the rate applying at that moment and the source the rate comes from.

We also look at whether there were movements shortly before or after the reference date. That is not an accusation, but it belongs in the overview, because a third party reading the file later would otherwise ask questions you can no longer answer.

What you supply

The wallet addresses or extended public keys, the export files from your exchanges, and the date in question. If you are unsure whether you have every address, say so; we can often look further from the known addresses.

What you receive

An overview per address and per token with the position on the reference date, the rate source used and the value in euros. It comes with an explanation of how the overview was put together and which assumptions were made.

That overview is meant to be shown to a third party: your accountant, the civil-law notary, the other side in civil proceedings or the tax authority.

How to get started

You send the addresses and the date. In a first conversation you will hear what can be recorded with the data you hold and what it costs.

European supervisors publish background on crypto assets and the rules that apply to them: see ESMA and EBA.

An overview on a reference date reflects what was visible on the blockchain and at the exchanges at that moment. It is not tax advice and not a valuation for a specific legal purpose.

Further reading