Portugal wants to end the legal loophole that prevents the government from imposing taxes on virtual assets, making the country attractive to cryptocurrency investors, the finance minister said on Monday.
“The government wants to pass legislation on this issue, we will not maintain this vacuum,” said Fernando Medina in Lisbon. He added that the Portuguese government plans to introduce a new legal framework “as soon as possible” that strikes a balance between fiscal “equality” and international “competitiveness”.
Portugal is one of the few countries in Europe where cryptocurrencies are not taxed as they are not considered currency or financial assets, according to a tax administration decision published in 2016. Only professional activities paid in cryptocurrencies are taxable.
With the new tax rules pending, investments in cryptocurrencies continue to gain ground, especially in the real estate sector, at the beginning of the month there was the first sale of an apartment paid in bitcoin and not converted into euros. The transaction was unprecedented “in Portugal and Europe”, according to Zome, the real estate agency that brokered the sale.
source: Noticias
