The Assembleia do Republica, the Portuguese congress, has rejected two legislation that would have placed a tax on cryptocurrencies in the country.
Portugal has long been known as a cryptocurrency tax haven, and cryptocurrency trade has been tax-free since 2018. Furthermore, in Portugal, trading digital assets are not considered investment income.
Despite the fact that businesses that take Bitcoin must pay income tax on it, this has drawn crypto startups and events to Lisbon.
The Portuguese Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, recently stated that cryptocurrencies will be subject to capital gains taxes in the near future. The Portuguese Assembleia da Republica, on the other hand, rejected two separate bills from minor political parties to tax bitcoin assets.
Derek “Isaac” Kaplan, the founder of DuoVerse and VMining, praised the news, saying that any “unreasonable taxation” would have hampered the cryptocurrency industry’s growth. According to Cointelegraph, he stated:
“While a regulatory framework is important, we need to give the industry the space to grow. Crypto industry is nascent and it shouldn’t be subject to the same rate applicable to capital gains on equivalent income as it will be unfair. This development reflects that crypto-friendly sentiment goes strong in Portugal.”
According to the economic newspaper ECO, the ideas came from the left-wing parties Bloco de Esquerda and Livre, and both were rejected at a 2022 budget voting session on Wednesday afternoon. The government has been requested to look into taxing cryptocurrency revenues exceeding €5,000 ($5,345.75).
Crypto transactions in Portugal are exempt from capital gains and other taxes. For financial investments, the current capital gains tax rate is 28 percent. During the same session of parliament, the country’s Deputy Finance and Tax Minister Antonio Mendes stated that taxing cryptocurrencies is a “difficult reality,” and that capital gains may not be enough.
According to Cointelegraph, an emigrant to Portugal in February complimented the western Iberian country’s crypto acceptance rate among retailers and even claimed that Bitcoin would one day become legal tender there. However, now that government authorities are debating how to tax digital assets, he may have a lot on his mind.
