Coinbase and taxes in Belgium: how to import your transactions into Cryptotax

Coinbase is one of the most widely used crypto exchanges in Belgium. Easy to get started, a clean app, and direct bank connectivity via SEPA. But when it comes to taxes, "clean" suddenly becomes a lot less straightforward. Especially now that the new 10% capital gains tax has been in effect since 1 January 2026.

This guide walks you through, step by step, how to connect your Coinbase transactions to Cryptotax so you can file a correct Belgian tax return.

What does Coinbase track?

Coinbase keeps your full transaction history: purchases, sales, conversions, staking rewards, earn rewards, and transfers. All of these events are relevant for your tax return.

Specifically, this includes:

• Purchases and sales via the Coinbase app or Advanced Trade
• Conversions between cryptocurrencies (these are taxable events)
• Staking rewards from assets such as ETH, SOL, or ADA (taxable as miscellaneous income (diverse inkomsten))
• Coinbase Earn rewards (same treatment)
• Transfers to other wallets or exchanges

Cryptotax imports this data directly via the Coinbase REST API, including precise timestamps and price data for each transaction.

Step 1: Create an API key in Coinbase

Coinbase uses its own API system. You need a read-only key so Cryptotax can retrieve your data without ever being able to execute anything on your account.

1. Go to coinbase.com and log in
2. Navigate to Settings > API
3. Click Create new API key
4. Give the key a recognizable name, for example "Cryptotax taxes 2026"
5. Set the permissions to Read only (no trading rights, no withdrawal rights)
6. Copy the API Key and the API Secret - you will only see the secret once

Note: save your API Secret immediately. Coinbase only shows it once. If you lose it, you will need to create a new key.

Step 2: Add Coinbase in Cryptotax

1. Log in at cryptotax.be
2. Go to Data sources and click Add source
3. Select Coinbase from the list of supported exchanges
4. Paste your API Key and API Secret into the fields
5. Click Connect

Cryptotax will now automatically retrieve your full transaction history, including all historical data that Coinbase makes available.

Step 3: Review your data

After the import, you will see an overview of all imported transactions. Pay particular attention to:

• Staking rewards: automatically recognized as taxable income
• Conversions: each conversion counts as a sale followed by a purchase
• Transfers: Cryptotax automatically detects whether a transfer goes to your own wallet or to a third party

Transactions with a data issue receive a flag. This could be a missing market price for a lesser-known token, or a transfer where the counterparty could not be identified. These flags are not errors but points of attention to confirm manually.

Coinbase Advanced Trade vs. the standard app

Are you using Coinbase Advanced Trade (formerly Coinbase Pro)? No problem. The API connection retrieves transactions from both environments through the same account. You do not need to create a separate data source.

What about Coinbase Wallet?

Coinbase Wallet is a self-custodied wallet, separate from the Coinbase exchange account. Those transactions are not included in your Coinbase export data.

For Coinbase Wallet, add your wallet address as an EVM chain in Cryptotax (Ethereum, Base, or Arbitrum, depending on which chain you used). Cryptotax will then retrieve the on-chain transactions via Alchemy.

Frequently asked questions

My Coinbase account is several years old. Does Cryptotax also retrieve older transactions?

Yes. The Coinbase API provides access to your full transaction history. Cryptotax imports everything and correctly calculates the FIFO cost basis, including transactions from before 2026.

I bought crypto on Coinbase and then transferred it to a hardware wallet. How does that work?

The purchase is recorded in Coinbase. Cryptotax recognizes the transfer to your hardware wallet as a transfer to yourself, which is not a taxable event. As long as you also add your hardware wallet address to Cryptotax, the overall calculation will be correct.

What exactly are my staking rewards worth at the time of receipt?

Cryptotax uses market price data from CoinGecko at the exact moment of the reward. That value serves both as the taxable income and as the cost basis for future capital gains (meerwaarde) calculations.

I see a transaction I do not recognize. What should I do?

Check in your Coinbase account whether the transaction is correct. If it is a legitimate transaction that is labelled incorrectly, you can adjust it manually in Cryptotax. Contact support if you are unsure.

Ready for your tax return

Once your Coinbase account is connected and any flags have been reviewed, Cryptotax automatically generates your tax report. That report contains an overview of all your realized capital gains (meerwaarden), taxable income, and the corresponding tax amounts in accordance with Belgian legislation.

Do you also have a Kraken or Binance account alongside Coinbase, or do you use DeFi protocols? Simply add those as additional data sources. Cryptotax consolidates everything into one report.

Connect your Coinbase account and take the first step toward a stress-free tax filing.