Portugal to Tax Cryptocurrency Income According to Minister of Finance

Portugal, one of the countries considered a crypto tax haven due to its absence of crypto-related taxation, is preparing to change this policy. Fernando Medina, minister of finance of Portugal, stated that the country is working on a framework to allow the taxation of cryptocurrency income gains following the principles of “justice” and “efficiency,” and declared that there cannot be gaps for any income gains to be obtained without taxation.

Portugal, one of the countries that has been touted as a crypto haven due to the absence of taxation in this regard, is working on the establishment of laws that will allow it to tax these digital assets. The statements on the subject were made by the minister of finance of the country, Fernando Medina, during a state budget discussion.

Medina explained:

Several countries are building their models regarding this matter and we are going to build ours. I do not want to commit myself to a date at this moment, but we will adapt our legislation and our taxation.

The government had already given signs of its future direction regarding cryptocurrency taxation. The Ministry of Finance asked the Portuguese Tax Authority to study how crypto assets were taxed in other regions in 2021 “in order to propose an adequate tax framework for these new instruments, taking into account the necessary balance between the fair distribution of income and wealth and the attraction of foreign investment.”

While the models by which cryptocurrency gains will be taxed are still unclear, Medina stated that these would be set up following the principles of “justice” and “efficiency,” aiming for a tax system that would not scare cryptocurrency investments out of the country. Medina declared this system should make taxation “adequate,” but not of an “exceptional character that ends up reducing revenue to zero, which is contrary, in fact, to the objective for which it exists.”

However, he was firm in the belief that cryptocurrency should be taxed eventually, stating that there could not be “gaps that cause there to be capital gains in relation to the transaction of assets that do not have a tax.”

Recently, cryptocurrencies are starting to be used as a means of payment in real estate transactions in Portugal. On May 8, the reported first transaction of this kind happened in the country, when an apartment in Braga was sold for 3 BTC.

What do you think about the statements on crypto taxation made by Portugal’s minister of finance? Tell us in the comments section below.