Portugal’s Parliament Says No to Bitcoin Tax—for Now

The decision came during a budget voting session on Wednesday.

By Mat Di Salvo

Portugal has adopted liberal tax laws towards cryptocurrencies, in a bid to encourage innovation.

Portugal’s parliament today rejected a proposal to tax Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

At a Wednesday evening budget session, the left-wing parties Bloco de Esquerda and Livre proposed taxing digital assets, but that idea was thrown out, online newspaper ECO reported via its live blog. 

The proposal had asked the government to consider taxing crypto profits in excess of €5,000 ($5,340.45).

Portugal has long been considered a cryptocurrency tax haven—proceeds from individual sales of cryptocurrencies have been tax-exempt since 2018. 

Also, trading digital assets is not considered investment income in the European nation. Because of this, Lisbon is attractive to crypto startups and events although businesses that accept crypto do have to pay income tax on that revenue.

But that may be coming to an end. Just this month, Minister of Finance Fernando Medina announced that crypto assets in the country soon would be subject to capital gains taxes.

And Portugal’s government also soon could slap a value-added tax (VAT), stamp duties, or property taxes on digital assets after Antonio Mendonça Mendes, the nation’s deputy minister for finance and tax affairs, said at the same session of parliament that taxing crypto was a “complex reality” and capital gains may not suffice.