The Greek government is moving forward with drafting legislation that will provide for a 15% tax on capital gains from cryptocurrencies, aiming to bring this market into a clear tax framework for the first time, according to a Reuters report.
According to information cited by the news agency, the Ministry of Finance is working on a draft law expected to be submitted to Parliament in the coming months. The aim of the initiative is to integrate cryptocurrencies into the country’s tax code, covering an area that has so far remained largely unregulated.
Government sources said the new framework will include a tax-free threshold for the first €500 of profits from cryptocurrency transactions. Above that amount, capital gains will be taxed at a rate of 15%.
It is also clarified that the tax will not apply to the mining of cryptocurrencies by private individuals. However, taxation will apply to businesses operating in the sector that are registered as companies.
Greece currently does not have a comprehensive system for taxing digital assets, while at the European level there is also no unified approach. Tax rates on cryptocurrencies vary significantly between EU member states, ranging from 8% in Cyprus to as high as 30% in France.
Government officials note that it remains difficult to accurately assess the true size of the Greek cryptocurrency market, as most investors carry out transactions through platforms based outside Greece. For this reason, there is still no clear estimate of the revenue the state could generate from the implementation of the new tax.
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