Xetra-Gold and gold ETCs (§ 23 EStG)
In short:
- A security that gives you a claim to delivery of physical gold and is fully backed by gold (such as Xetra-Gold) is treated by capi.tax as a private disposal (§ 23 EStG) – not as capital income.
- If you sell within one year of buying, the result belongs on Anlage SO. After more than a year the sale is not taxable – a gain as well as a loss (exception: lent securities, see below).
- Gold securities and currency gains from non-interest-bearing balances share one exemption threshold of €1,000 a year (up to 2023: €600).
- capi.tax only recognises such securities by the ISIN on a short list. Anything else you classify yourself under Adjustments > Symbol classification.
Why gold is treated differently
The Federal Fiscal Court ruled that Xetra-Gold is not a receivable but a claim to a thing: to gold (BFH VIII R 35/14 and VIII R 4/15). The tax authorities follow this (BMF letter of 14.05.2025, para. 57). So the flat-rate withholding tax does not apply; instead the same rule as for physical gold does: taxable only if no more than one year lies between purchase and sale (§ 23 (1) sentence 1 no. 2 EStG). Taking delivery of the gold is not a sale either.
Which securities capi.tax recognises
| Security | ISIN | How capi.tax treats it |
|---|---|---|
| Xetra-Gold | DE000A0S9GB0 | private disposal (§ 23) |
| EUWAX Gold II | DE000EWG2LD7 | private disposal (§ 23) |
| other gold ETCs without a delivery claim for private investors (e.g. iShares Physical Gold) | – | other capital claim (§ 20 Abs. 2 S. 1 No. 7 EStG, general loss pot), with a notice, see commodity products |
| US gold trusts (GLD, IAU, SLV, PPLT) | – | other investment fund without partial exemption, with a notice |
Recognition only uses the ISIN, never names like "Physical Gold": most physically backed ETCs give private investors no delivery claim. When capi.tax recognises a security as § 23, a notice says so. If that does not fit your product, classify the symbol differently under Adjustments > Symbol classification – and the other way round, you can classify a security with a delivery claim that capi.tax does not know as a private disposal there. Whether a product has a delivery claim is stated in its terms and conditions.
How capi.tax calculates
- Order: sales are matched to the oldest purchases first (FIFO). Each purchase lot is checked against the one-year period on its own – so one sale can be partly taxable and partly not taxable.
- Period by calendar date: bought on 15.03.2024, sold on 15.03.2025 is still within the period; on 16.03.2025 it is not. The trade date counts.
- Costs: the purchase commission adds to the acquisition cost, the sale commission reduces the gain (§ 23 (3) sentence 1 EStG). capi.tax does not include custody fees.
- Holdings from the previous year: if you also upload the previous year's statement, capi.tax carries over the purchases with their original purchase date.
Example: you buy 100 Xetra-Gold on 10.01.2025 for €8,000 and sell them on 10.06.2025 for €9,500. The result of €1,500 is within the one-year period and reaches the threshold – it belongs on Anlage SO in full. Had you sold on 11.01.2026 or later, the gain would not be taxable.
Threshold and losses
The threshold applies to all private disposals of a year together (§ 23 (3) sentence 5 EStG). So capi.tax nets gold results and currency gains from non-interest-bearing balances and checks the threshold once for the total. Below it, everything stays tax-free; once the total reaches it, everything is taxable. Disposals capi.tax does not know about – such as crypto or a second account – count at the tax office too.
A loss within the one-year period is only offset against gains from private disposals, not against share or interest income (§ 23 (3) sentence 7 EStG). If a loss remains, capi.tax shows it; it is offset against such gains of the previous year or later years (§ 23 (3) sentence 8 EStG). The tax office deducts a loss carried forward from earlier years itself: it knows it from its loss assessment notice and deducts it only after the exemption limit has been checked. On Anlage SO you only enter the results of the year.
Where to find the result
In the KAP Form tab, the section Anlage SO – private disposals shows the total of foreign currency and securities (Total result), the value "After threshold, no other disposals" and each sale with its purchase and sale date. The tax office applies the threshold itself to all your private disposals; the value after the threshold only shows how it turns out if you have no others. If you also have currency gains, they are already in the total – the "§ 23 EStG" box in the "Currency gains" section does not come on top.
For private disposals of other assets, Anlage SO asks per transaction for the description, acquisition and sale date, sale price, acquisition cost, expenses and the gain or loss. The columns of the sales list in capi.tax match these details (proceeds, acquisition cost, sale costs, result). Anlage SO only has room for one transaction in detail (2024: lines 48–53, 2025: lines 52–57). Several transactions go together into the line "Gewinne / Verluste aus weiteren Veräußerungen … (laut gesonderter Aufstellung)": 2024 line 55, 2025 line 59, code 116 (spouse / person B: 117). It takes the total result before the exemption limit, a loss too; the capi.tax sales list serves as the separate statement. capi.tax shows this line in the section. For other tax years the line numbers are not verified and not shown.
Private disposals are taxed at your personal income tax rate, not the flat-rate withholding tax – so capi.tax does not calculate a tax for them.
What capi.tax does not cover
- Short sales of such securities (left out with a notice).
- Delivery of the gold or a transfer to another account: the holding then disappears without a sale.
- Lent securities (e.g. through IBKR's securities lending programme): the period can then extend to ten years (§ 23 (1) sentence 1 no. 2 sentence 4 EStG). capi.tax does not detect lending and shows no notice for it.