Greece plans to tax gains on cryptocurrency at 10%, lower than the 15% rate government officials floated in June.
The rate is set out in a draft bill now open for public consultation, Reuters reported on Thursday. The first €500 of crypto gains each year would be exempt. The bill is due to go to the Greek parliament in November.
Filling a gap
Greece has no comprehensive legal framework for taxing crypto at present. The new bill would create one.
Under the plan described in June, one official said crypto mining by individuals would not be taxed, while mining by registered companies would be. Officials have also said the size of the Greek crypto market is hard to estimate, because most Greek investors use platforms based outside the country, and no revenue forecast has been published.
That second problem is getting easier to solve. Since 1 January, the EU’s DAC8 rules have required crypto service providers to collect data on transactions by EU-resident users and share it with tax authorities in those users’ home countries. This year is the first reporting period.
How Greece compares
At 10%, Greece would sit at the low end of crypto tax rates across the EU.
Cyprus introduced a flat 8% rate on crypto gains for individuals and companies from 1 January. Italy raised its rate to 33% from 26% at the start of this year, matching Ireland’s 33%. Spain taxes crypto gains as savings income at progressive rates of up to 28%.
Some countries take a different approach altogether. Germany exempts gains on crypto held for more than a year, and the Netherlands taxes a presumed return on assets rather than actual gains.
What happens next
Nothing is final yet. The draft is out for consultation, the rate has already been cut once since June, and the bill still has to pass parliament. No start date has been set.
