Crypto Taxes for Digital Nomads: What You Need to Know

If you're a US citizen or green-card holder, you're subject to US tax on your worldwide income, including crypto, no matter where you live or how many days you spend in the US. Other countries may also tax you if you're a resident there. Selling or swapping crypto, receiving staking rewards, and earning crypto through work can all trigger tax, although the timing, classification, and exemptions differ by country.

US citizens and green-card holders are taxed on worldwide income. Your crypto is taxed the same way it would be if you lived in the US:

• Selling, swapping, or spending crypto held as an investment generally creates a capital gain or loss. These transactions usually go on Form 8949 and Schedule D, although sales reported on Form 1099-DA with a basis and no adjustments can be entered directly on Schedule D. Gains are short-term if you held the asset for one year or less and long-term if you held it for more than one year.

• Fees on a cash purchase add to your cost basis. Fees on a sale or crypto-to-crypto swap reduce your proceeds.

• Staking rewards and taxable airdrops are generally treated as ordinary income when you gain dominion and control, usually reported on Schedule 1, line 8v, unless reported elsewhere. Crypto received for freelance work generally goes on Schedule C, and crypto paid as employee wages is reported as wages. The taxable amount is the asset's fair market value when received.

• Net capital losses offset gains, then up to $3,000 of ordinary income a year ($1,500 if married filing separately), with the rest carried forward.

• The wash sale rule generally doesn't apply to crypto that isn't a security under current law.

• Since 2025, cost basis is tracked wallet by wallet and account by account. For 2025 and 2026, IRS Notice 2026-20 lets you identify which units you sold from a broker account using your own books and records, even if the broker can't yet accept specific-identification instructions. That relief ends December 31, 2026.

• US brokers issue Form 1099-DA even if you live abroad: gross proceeds for 2025 sales, and from 2026, basis for covered assets acquired on or after January 1, 2026 in a custodial account at that broker. Foreign exchanges and self-custody wallets generally don't issue one. No form doesn't mean no tax.

Only earned income. The foreign earned income exclusion (Form 2555) lets you exclude foreign wages or self-employment income: up to $130,000 for 2025 and $132,900 for 2026, per qualifying person. To claim it, you need a foreign tax home and must meet the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test (330 full days in foreign countries in 12 consecutive months).

The FEIE doesn't cover capital gains from selling or swapping crypto. Those gains follow the usual US rules, although capital losses, deductions, and foreign tax credits can reduce what you owe. Crypto received as pay for work performed abroad may qualify as foreign earned income if you meet the other FEIE requirements.

If you're self-employed, the exclusion doesn't remove US self-employment tax. And you can't claim a foreign tax credit for foreign tax on income you've already excluded.

• Foreign tax credit (Form 1116): if another country taxes the same income, you may be able to credit that tax against your US tax, subject to limits and sourcing rules.

• FBAR (FinCEN Form 114): required if your foreign financial accounts total more than $10,000 at any time in the year. Under FinCEN Notice 2020-2, a foreign account holding only crypto isn't currently reportable as of October 2026, but one that also holds cash or other reportable assets is. FinCEN has said it intends to change this. See

  how to file a crypto FBAR.

• Form 8938: if you meet the IRS definition of living abroad, you file when specified foreign financial assets exceed $200,000 at year-end or $300,000 at any time ($400,000 / $600,000 if married filing jointly). An account at a foreign financial institution can be reportable regardless of its contents. The IRS hasn't said that every directly held crypto asset counts, so review foreign custodial accounts and self-custody holdings separately. See the IRS comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR.

• Puerto Rico: under IRC §933, bona fide residents can exclude Puerto Rico-source income from US tax. Residency generally requires meeting the presence, tax-home, and closer-connection tests. You may also need to file Form 8898 in the year you become or stop being a bona fide resident; the requirement generally applies when your worldwide gross income for that year is over $75,000. Gains on property you owned before moving generally aren't treated as Puerto Rico-source if you were a US resident in any of the prior 10 years (Treas. Reg. §1.937-2(f)), and how that applies to crypto isn't fully settled. See our

  Puerto Rico crypto tax guide.

• Expatriation: if you renounce US citizenship or end long-term green-card status and you're a covered expatriate, most of your assets, including crypto, are generally treated as sold at fair market value the day before you expatriate. For 2026, you're a covered expatriate if your average annual net income tax for the prior five years is over $211,000, your net worth is $2 million or more, or you don't certify five years of tax compliance on Form 8854, with limited exceptions. The first $910,000 of total net gain (2026) is excluded. See the IRS

  expatriation tax page.

For more, see crypto taxes for US expats.

A digital nomad earns income online while spending extended periods outside their passport country, often for long enough to become tax-resident in another country.

Because tax law follows residency rather than lifestyle labels, nomads must track days in each jurisdiction and understand how local rules treat both employment income and crypto transactions.

Digital nomad vs. expat vs. remote worker

The table below summarizes the differences between remote workers, digital nomads, and expats.

Key tax residency tests

• Physical-presence or day-count tests (often 183 days in a calendar year) (the US uses its own substantial presence test for non-citizens)

• Permanent-home test (availability of a dwelling)

• Center-of-vital-interests test (location of family, assets, and business)

• Closer-connection test (used by the US for substantial-presence exceptions)

How different countries determine residency

Many countries use an 183-day threshold, but staying fewer than 183 days doesn't automatically make you a nonresident. A permanent home, family, work, or economic ties can also establish tax residency. If two countries treat you as a resident, an applicable tax treaty may resolve the issue through a series of tests: permanent home, center of vital interests, habitual abode, and nationality. Most US tax treaties have a saving clause that generally preserves the US right to tax its citizens, with some exceptions.

Capital gains

Most jurisdictions treat profits from selling or swapping crypto as capital gains, taxed when realized. Holding periods, exemption thresholds, and rates vary widely. A handful of countries impose no personal capital-gains tax at all.

Income (from staking, airdrops, freelancing)

Many countries classify staking rewards, mining proceeds, airdrops, and crypto received for services as ordinary income at the asset's fair-market value on receipt. In the US, this income is ordinary income at fair market value when you gain dominion and control over the crypto, and is reported on Schedule 1, line 8v (or on Schedule C if it's a business).

DeFi and yield-farming taxation

Depositing crypto into a liquidity pool, receiving rewards, and withdrawing tokens can each have different tax results. Some rewards are taxable as income when received, while other transactions may count as a disposal or exchange. The outcome depends on the transaction and the country's rules.

How some other countries tax crypto

If you're a US citizen, these rules apply in addition to US tax, not instead of it.

• Portugal: For Portuguese tax residents, qualifying gains on crypto held fewer than 365 days are generally taxed at 28%, and gains on qualifying crypto held 365 days or more are generally exempt. Crypto-to-crypto swaps are generally deferred, with the original cost carried over. Leaving Portuguese tax residency can trigger a deemed disposal. See our Portugal crypto tax guide.

• United Arab Emirates: No personal income or capital-gains tax on individuals' personal investments. Individuals running a business in the UAE may fall under corporate tax once business turnover exceeds AED 1 million a year; wages and personal investment income don't count toward that test.

• Singapore: Gains on crypto held as a personal investment generally aren't taxed. Profits from trading crypto as a business may be taxable, based on factors such as how often you trade, your purpose, and how long you hold.

• Bahamas & Bermuda: No income or capital-gains tax.

• El Salvador: Under the Bitcoin Law as amended in January 2025, Bitcoin exchanges aren't subject to capital-gains tax. The same amendment made accepting Bitcoin voluntary for private businesses. The exemption covers Bitcoin only, not other crypto or other types of income.

• Germany: Gains on privately held crypto are tax-free when sold after more than one year, provided it's held as private (not business) property. Staking or lending doesn't extend the one-year holding period. Short-term gains are tax-free if total private-sale gains for the year are under €1,000 (§23 EStG). Staking and lending rewards can be taxed separately as income.

• Malta: Coins held as an investment, outside a trading business, generally fall outside capital-gains tax. Profits from crypto trading or mining as a business may be taxed as income, and tokens that resemble securities can be treated differently.

Rates and rules change often. Check each country's tax authority before relying on them.

For a full country list, see crypto tax-free countries.

• Identify your tax-resident country (or countries) for the year.

• Export wallet and exchange transaction histories.

• Calculate transaction values and gains in the currency each tax jurisdiction requires, using its accepted exchange rates and valuation methods.

• Separate capital gains from income items (staking, airdrops, salary).

• Complete each country's forms. On a US return, capital-asset disposals generally go on Form 8949 and Schedule D, although sales reported with basis and needing no adjustments can go directly on Schedule D. On Form 8949 for 2025, use boxes G/J if a Form 1099-DA reported basis, H/K if it reported proceeds without basis, and I/L if no 1099-DA covered the sale. Crypto income goes on Schedule 1, line 8v. In the UK, gains go on the SA108 capital gains pages filed with the SA100 return.

• For a US return, claim any foreign tax credit on Form 1116, and file the FBAR and Form 8938 if you meet the thresholds.

• Keep records for at least the assessment period: in the US, generally 3 years after filing, or 6 years if you omit more than 25% of income or more than $5,000 of income from specified foreign financial assets. Keep FBAR records for 5 years. Other countries set their own retention periods.

• Double reporting obligations and potential double taxation if no treaty relief

• Overlapping filing deadlines and different taxable-year ends

• Tracking cost basis in multiple currencies

• Reconciling exchange statements after accounts are closed or geo-blocked

• Understanding VAT / GST on NFT sales in different regions

• Meeting FBAR, Form 8938, and other cross-border reporting thresholds

• Coordinating foreign tax credits with rapidly changing crypto legislation

Crypto reporting between countries is also expanding. The EU's DAC8 rules took effect January 1, 2026, requiring covered crypto-asset service providers to collect data on EU tax residents' transactions, with the first exchanges of 2026 data between tax authorities due in 2027. In the US, brokers began reporting gross proceeds for 2025 transactions, with basis reporting starting for certain assets in 2026.

TokenTax imports transaction history from wallets and exchanges, calculates crypto gains and income for any country in your chosen currency, and prepares IRS Form 8949 or the relevant international report, plus an income report. FBAR filing is included on the Pro and VIP plans and available as an add-on on Basic and Premium.

The VIP plan adds advanced reconciliation, two 30-minute consultations with a tax expert, review of IRS inquiries, and support for up to 30,000 exchange transactions. Full filing by TokenTax's CPAs and EAs is a separate add-on.

See pricing.