Hey there, thanks for this information it was very helpful! My question would be what kind of taxes am i subject to in the following example:
Mon 22.01.2018 - i purchase 1 ETH with 1000 Euro
Tue 23.01.2018 - i purchase lets say 60 OMG with that 1 ETH
Mon 05.02.2018 - i then want to diversify as OMG has appreciated and convert 30 OMG back to 0.7 ETH
Tue 06.02.2018 - i use the 0.7 ETH to purchase 4 LTC (at this point i own 30 OMG and 4 LTC)
Mon 04.03.2019 - after a year of holding i decide to convert my 30 OMG and 4 LTC back into 6000 ETH as i would need ETH to exchange back into Euro. I cash out with 600,000 Euro.
I have made some trades where ive had to change from one currency to ETH just so i can purchase a different one which i plan to hold for over a year, am not sure what taxes i need to keep an eye out for.. Luckily ive been keeping a decent record of trades using a tracking app but if i need to calculate profits/losses for every exchange i think my mind will overload hahah.
Honestly, at that point I'd just get myself a tax advisor. At best they help keeping the Finanzamt off your back, at worst they can tell you which forms to fill out.
As for your example:
The last step seems pretty straightforward -- OMG and LTC have been held for a year and are thus tax-free, buying and selling the ETH would likely be taxable since you didn't hold the ETH long enough, however since no profits have been made, there's no taxes to be paid (Note that additional income of I
think less than EUR 600,- does not need to be taxed, so small Euro profits that could occur while moving OMG to ETH to EUR are likely negligible).
However I have absolutely no idea how your third step, converting OMG back to ETH for a profit would be taxed. I assume that this is a taxable event (ie. income tax would apply for your profits) however I have no idea how this profit would be calculated. I guess the EUR value of 30 OMG at the time you sell it minus the EUR value of 30 OMG at the time you buy it? Would be consistent with how mining is taxed, but seems kinda weird when applied to trading. Unfortunately the only examples I've come across so far only cover trading between fiat and crypto. I personally don't daytrade alts, so I have no experience in this regard.
Keeping track of your trades is a good start however. Make sure you can also proof your transactions to the Finanzamt however that may be. I guess blockchain explorer links and trade history records as provided by the exchanges themselves should be sufficient, but I have yet to find out.
Maybe ask the guys from the German local boards. There are some Austrians over there as well and either way, Austrian tax law regarding cryptos is pretty close to Germany's.