Portugal to introduce tax on crypto-active assets, but with exceptions

  • ECO News
  • 10 October 2022

António Costa's government determines in the draft State Budget for 2023 that anyone with crypto-active assets "held for a period of less than one year" must now pay a 28% tax on capital gains.

Taxes on cryptocurrencies are going ahead. The Portuguese government determines in the draft State Budget for 2023 that anyone with crypto-active assets “held for less than one year” must now pay a 28% tax on capital gains. Profits obtained with crypto-active assets held for over 365 days will be exempt from taxation.

In the new budget proposal, which will still be discussed in Parliament, the government proposes a “new crypto-active taxation regime”. However, the new regime does not stop there: “It wants to create a broad and tax framework applicable to crypto-active assets, in terms of taxation of income and wealth,” explains the government.

The main novelty concerns capital gains obtained with crypto-assets held for less than a year, as of profits generated by selling cryptocurrencies. This new regime means taxpayers must declare these operations and pay a 28% tax or opt for aggregation. These gains are exempt if the assets are held for over one year.

In terms of the IRS, the government proposes “the taxation on income from operations with crypto-active assets as business and professional income”. It includes other activities, for example, cryptocurrency mining and crypto-active issuance.