Options & Taxes
Options are derivative transactions, not securities. Writer premiums are taxable immediately; option losses are back in the general pot since JStG 2024.
At IBKR, options are one of the most popular instruments: covered calls, cash-secured puts, spreads. Tax-wise, they follow their own rules. Important clarification: the previously feared separate derivative loss pot with the €20,000 cap no longer exists since the Annual Tax Act 2024. Option losses are now freely offsettable against dividends, interest and other capital income. Only the stock loss pot remains isolated.
- 1.Short put opened (1 contract, strike 150)premium received immediately+$250.00
- 2.Conversion to euros (ECB rate 1.08)§ 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 sentence 1 EStG (writer premium)+€231.48
- 3.Expiry: option expires worthlessno buyback, no new event€0.00
- 4.Net writer balancegoes into Anlage KAP line 19 as capital income+€231.48
- =→ Effective tax burden26.375 % Abgeltungsteuer + solica. €61.05
How the entry in the KAP lines emerges
BubbleTax classifies every IBKR option booking, identifies the event (open, close, expiry, exercise) and writes the result to the correct KAP line for the given tax year.
- 01
Classification by asset type: OPT, FOP, FSFOP, FSOPT. Writer transactions (short open) fall under § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 EStG; long-option results fall under § 20 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 EStG.
- 02
Event detection per booking: short open (premium taxable immediately), short close via buyback (negative income under § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 sentence 2, NOT a derivative loss), long open/close (derivative, difference taxable), expiry of long option (loss under § 20 Abs. 4 sentence 5 EStG), writer cash settlement (loss per BMF Rn. 34), exercise and assignment with delivery (for the buyer, the option costs belong to the cost basis of the underlying or are taken into account on its sale, BMF Rn. 22 and 29; for the writer, the premium remains income under no. 11 and is not taken into account for the underlying, BMF Rn. 26 and 33).
- 03
EUR conversion per booking at the ECB rate of the booking day.
- 04
Aggregation per tax year into the KAP lines that apply for that year. Offsetting in the general pot, not in the isolated stock pot.
Option events at a glance
Each event has a fixed tax treatment. Netting happens at the year level: a positive balance lands in line 19 as capital income, a negative balance is additionally shown in line 22 as a general loss.
| Event | Effect per booking | Amount | Tax treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short open (writer, premium received) | + income | premium received immediately | § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 sentence 1 EStG. Taxable on receipt. Not treated as a derivative transaction. |
| Short close / writer buyback (closing trade) | − negative income | premium paid | § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 sentence 2 EStG. Netted per option series (same underlying, expiry, type and strike) and tax year against the writer premium received (BMF Rn. 25), not per underlying. Not a derivative loss. |
| Long close / sale of long option | ± difference | closing minus opening premium | § 20 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 lit. b EStG (derivative). BMF Rn. 24 / 31. |
| Expiry (long, worthless) | − loss | full premium loss | § 20 Abs. 4 sentence 5 EStG, BMF Rn. 27/32 (BFH IX R 48-50/14, 12 Jan 2016). Worthless expiry must be reported. |
| Writer cash settlement | − loss | settlement paid | § 20 Abs. 2 sentence 1 Nr. 3 lit. a EStG. Loss from a derivative transaction (BMF Rn. 34, BFH VIII R 55/13). |
| Exercise / assignment (writer call/put) | underlying is delivered | premium stays writer income | The premium remains taxed under § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 EStG and is not taken into account for the underlying. Call: delivering the shares is a sale under § 20 Abs. 2 EStG (BMF Rn. 26). Put: being assigned is an acquisition under § 20 Abs. 2 EStG (BMF Rn. 33). BubbleTax calculates it the same way: on assignment, none of the premium moves into the cost basis. |
Abolition of the derivative loss pot (JStG 2024)
The special rule introduced in 2021 (§ 20 Abs. 6 Satz 5 EStG, old version), which restricted derivative losses to be offset only against derivative gains and capped them at €20,000 per year, was constitutionally controversial from the outset (see BFH order VIII B 113/23 of 7 June 2024). With the Annual Tax Act 2024, the legislature repealed the provision and ordered that it is no longer to be applied in all open cases (§ 52 Abs. 28 Satz 25 EStG), so also retroactively for tax years not yet finally assessed.
There is therefore neither a separate offsetting pot for derivatives nor a €20,000 cap. Option losses flow into the general loss pot and can be freely offset there with other capital income. BubbleTax automatically assigns the amounts to the current KAP lines.
What remains of the stock pot
Stock gains and losses stay in an isolated pot under § 20 Abs. 6 Satz 4 EStG. Option losses do NOT enter this pot; they go into the general one and can be offset against dividends and interest there.
Options fall under § 20 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 3 EStG (derivative transactions); writer premiums under § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 EStG. Loss offsetting follows § 20 Abs. 6 EStG in its current version. The former separate offsetting pot for derivatives and the €20,000 cap (§ 20 Abs. 6 Satz 5 EStG, old version) were repealed by the Annual Tax Act 2024 and are no longer to be applied in all open cases (§ 52 Abs. 28 Satz 25 EStG). Only the stock loss pot (§ 20 Abs. 6 Satz 4 EStG) remains: stock losses may exclusively be offset against stock gains; option losses are not affected by this restriction.