Fernando Medina, Portugal’s new finance minister, said on Friday that cryptocurrencies would be taxed. It’s a decision diametrically opposed to the country’s image in the blockchain world until now.
Portugal will finally tax cryptocurrencies
Fernando Medina, Portugal’s finance minister who took office on March 30, announced in parliament on Friday that the country would tax cryptocurrencies.
There is, as yet, no timetable for this new measure, or even precise figures, but Mendonça Mendes, the Secretary of State for Tax Affairs, gave some clues as to what will be put in place. Not only will winnings be taxed, but other levies such as VAT or “stamp tax”, relating to certain financial operations, could be applied.
A reversal of the current situation
To date, individuals resident in Portugal are not subject to profit tax on cryptocurrencies, which gave the country a forward-thinking status. Only companies in the sector were levied 28-35% on their capital gains.
All this is now set to change and some parliamentarians are calling for a profound change. Mariana Mortágua, a member of parliament for the Left Bloc, commented on the country’s current position on cryptoassets in an uninformed way, comparing several very different cases:
“It’s incredible how the SP refuses to tax fortunes created in seconds on the internet while maintaining VAT on electricity and not increasing the minimum wage in a context of inflation. “
In the face of this outburst, Fernando Medina was keen to moderate the situation and instead seems to want to model himself on what is already being done in other countries:
“We are evaluating the regulation in this area, both in the fight against money laundering and the regulation of the markets, to present a legislative initiative that really serves a country in all aspects, not […] that makes the cover of a newspaper. “
While last week Germany announced it was taking the opposite line of reasoning by zero-rating crypto-currencies held for more than a year, Portugal seems, from the perspective of our ecosystem, to be making an uncrypto-friendly change.
