On 17 December 2025, the Council of Ministers adopted the draft amendments to the Act on the Exchange of Tax Information with Other States. Despite its technical name, the draft is one of the most important regulatory developments to date in the Polish cryptocurrency market.

The Polish government has formally submitted the DAC8 implementation bill to the House of Representatives (lower house of parliament) on January 4, 2026. Subsequently, the Chamber of Deputies forwarded the draft legislation to the relevant parliamentary committee for subsequent consideration.

After the committee's deliberation, the bill will enter the plenary voting process, and the legislative process is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.

The new rules will affect holders of Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, NFTs and other crypto assets that use exchanges or other intermediaries.

However, it should be emphasized that EU law is controversial in Poland-the President has vetoed the Crypto Asset Market Act and the Digital Services Act implementation bill, which will be discussed in detail later in this article.

What is DAC8?

The draft aims to incorporate EU Council Directive (EU)2023/2226(DAC8) into the Polish legal system. This is the eighth revision of the EU's Tax Administrative Cooperation Directive, the core objective of which is to extend the automatic exchange of tax information to crypto-assets.

For many years, traditional bank accounts have remained fully transparent under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), while crypto assets have largely drifted outside the formal reporting framework. As noted in the draft explanatory memorandum, most crypto assets are not required to be declared under current EU regulations, and many crypto service providers do not meet the definition of a financial institution.

As a result, crypto assets can be transferred and stored without the involvement of traditional financial intermediaries and without centralized supervision of tax filings. This regulatory asymmetry is now being addressed.

DAC8 implements the OECD Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which will align the crypto asset reporting standards with those currently in place in the traditional financial sector.

To which regulatory authority will the data be submitted?

The draft establishes jurisdictional association rules to determine the subject of reporting responsibility. For Polish tax residents, this means that transaction data will be submitted to the Director of the National Tax Administration (Krajowa Administracja Skarbowa) via the automatic exchange mechanism, even if the service provider is based in another EU Member State.

Scope of Declare Information

User identification data

The declaration will contain the following user identification data:

• Full Name

• Residence Address

• Tax Country of Residence (or Countries)

• Tax identification number (in Poland: PESEL or NIP)

• Date and Place of Birth

Transaction Data (by Crypto Asset)

Transaction data for each crypto asset will be reported separately, including:

• Total amount of legal tender purchase

• Total amount realized in legal currency

• Market value of inter-cryptocurrency transactions

• Value of Retail Payment Transactions for Cryptocurrency Settlement

• Total amount and number of receipts and payment transfers

• Number of units in each category and number of transactions

Transfers of crypto assets from exchanges to external addresses, including private cold wallets, are explicitly covered. Such transfers will be declared as "movements of addresses that cannot be traced back to specific natural persons or business entities.

As a result, the tax authorities will have control over the size of the crypto assets flowing out of the regulated ecosystem. When such assets are realized in the future, it may be necessary to prove the acquisition cost and the point in time of revenue realization.

Mandatory Tax Residence Statement

According to the regulations implementing Anti-Money Laundering Law No. 8 (DAC8), access to crypto asset services is subject to the submission of a declaration of tax residence. This requirement applies to both new and old users.

The declaration must contain:

• Tax Country or Region of Residence

• Tax identification number for each tax country of residence

• Personal data (criminal liability for misrepresentation)

Failure to submit a statement will result in a restricted account. After 60 days from the date of the first request, the reporting crypto asset service provider must prohibit users from making reportable transactions, including purchase, sale and withdrawal operations.

Existing User Deadlines

Service providers must obtain the required declaration information by October 31, 2026, during which two formal requests will be issued.

Accounts that have not been declared by the end of 2026 will be frozen from January 1, 2027.

Cryptocurrency Retail Payments

The draft introduces the concept of a "reportable retail payment transaction," defined as a transfer of crypto assets worth more than $50,000 in exchange for goods or services.

Transactions such as the purchase of vehicles, real estate or other high-value assets using cryptocurrencies through regulated intermediaries are required to be declared, as well as the disclosure of the identities of buyers and sellers.

Reporting Exemptions

The following categories of transactions are exempt from DAC8 reporting obligations:

• Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

• Electronic currency as defined by applicable regulations

• Closed-end crypto assets, including specific utility tokens, loyalty points, and in-game assets that cannot be used outside a restricted ecosystem

The burden of proof is on the service provider. In the event of uncertainty, crypto assets should be considered to be subject to declaration.

Sanctions for violations

The draft also provides for administrative and financial criminal sanctions against service providers for non-compliance, including:

• Financial penalties for failure to comply with reporting obligations

• Penalties for failure to perform due diligence procedures

• Sanctions for failure to complete registration as required

• Fiscal criminal liability of individuals acting on behalf of offending entities

The implementation of DAC8 marks a fundamental shift in the way crypto assets are regulated in Poland. Crypto transactions conducted through regulated intermediaries will now be subject to the same transparency standards as bank accounts. For Polish tax residents, this essentially ends the de facto anonymity of crypto assets and significantly increases the importance of accurate tax returns and record-keeping.

Poland's EU Law Dispute-Where to Go?

It is worth noting that on January 9, 2026, Polish President Carol Navrotsky vetoed the bill to introduce the Digital Services Act into the Polish legal system. The bill aims to strengthen the protection of illegal content for Internet users and establish a clear grievance procedure for platform decisions.

The President stated that, in his view, this is a bad law that not only fails to directly implement EU regulations, but also unnecessarily expands. he pointed out:

In this context, it is also worth paying attention to the crypto asset market bill, which is also in a state of suspension.

For now, the cryptocurrency bill has "left" the Senate-which had previously passed an amendment to the deteriorating bill that raised fees for token issuers. The House of Representatives can now veto or approve the bill. After that, the document will be submitted to the president for review (the possibility of the House of Representatives rejecting the bill is slim), at which time the president will exercise his veto.

As a result, the legislative deadlock is becoming more and more obvious: although the government has enough senators and representatives to pass the bill, it cannot get a 2/3 majority support in the House of Representatives to override the presidential veto.

It is highly likely that all three EU law implementing acts-the Crypto Asset Markets Act, the Digital Services Act and Article 8 of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive-will not come into force in Poland.