Do I have to declare cryptocurrencies to the Treasury? Spain says yes

In Spain, cryptocurrencies are in the sights of the Treasury: this year, in completing the income and personal assets form that the Spaniards must submit to the Revenue Agency, they will have to they also declare their virtual currencies.

The Directorate General for Taxes defines them as “intangible assets, calculable for units or fractions of units, which are not legal tender, which can be exchanged for other goods, including other virtual currencies, rights or services, if accepted by the natural or legal person who transfers the good or right or provides the service, and which can be acquired or transmitted in general in exchange for legal tender“.

The income and wealth tax campaign, as the deadline for filing returns in Spain, It started on April 6th and there is time to do it until June 30th.

In the fillable online form, box 1626 which corresponds to the category Type of asset, reserve a section for virtual currencies.

The taxation, for example, of bitcoin, which is one of these digital means of exchange that uses cryptography to secure transactions, is based on the fact that, according to the Revenue Agency, “the information sent by financial institutions has been expanded. , which essentially corresponds to the increase in transactions with virtual currencies in recent times”.

Prior to the start of the declaration filing period, the collection agency usually warns those taxpayers of which there are indications that they have or are transacting with cryptocurrencies so that don’t forget to declare them.

Big leap in a year

This year has already warned 233,000 people. In 2021 it had data that at least 14,800 Spaniards had virtual currencies in their possession.

However, one month after starting to account for economic gains or losses made in 2021, nearly 49 percent of those who made profits with cryptocurrencies I hadn’t declared itaccording to a survey by the Financial Users Association.

“Cryptocurrencies must be declared. This is not great news. In the legal system, if you make a profit, you have to pay taxes“, he says Clarione The Italian Emanuele Giusto Kantfish, author of the book Crypto-jungle. The low cost comes to finances.

Giusto Kantfish lives in Spain and is also a digital artist who has innovated with his work: he sold the chapters of his book as NFT (Non-fungible tokens).

An NFT is a digital certificate of authenticity based on blockchain technology applied to cryptocurrencies.

“The revolution we experienced in the 1990s with the Internet is like the one that is happening now with the world of cryptocurrencies,” he says.

A world created by engineers

“And it is difficult to understand what it is because it is so a world created by engineers and programmers who have the ability to solve problems, but I am not very capable of communicating”Says Giusto Kantfish.

“The first invention was bitcoin. In 2009 bitcoin emerged due to the need to create a diversified system for the exchange of values ​​between people – reviews -. Bitcoin was born as a response to inflation. More than a virus, it is an antibody. The world of cryptocurrencies has become the largest economy in the world in 2021. It is an economic and organizational success “.

Ukraine legalized cryptocurrencies just days before the Russian invasion, and at that time Russia was studying a bill to encourage its use as an investment.

“It is a clear sign of how cryptocurrencies are providing answers to the chronic problems of the current system. Cryptocurrency proposes itself as alternative to protect funds”Says Giusto Kantfish.

According to him, virtual currencies “even protect citizens a possible ‘corralito’, a fact familiar to the Argentines “.

But when it comes to filing the declaration of earnings and personal assets, for tech law experts, cryptocurrencies have a disadvantage: “If you exchange bitcoins for ethereum (two virtual currencies), even if you haven’t seen a single euro, the profits must be declared. They can generate theoretical tax profit without this profit having materialized for tax purposes ”, they assure.

Giusto Kantfish warns of the real risks and those usually associated with the crypto world out of ignorance: “You have to study what you do with each click. There are dangers, scams, spam, but they are secondary effects that exist as in the normal system, which also has perversions, ”he says.

“It’s not a slot machine where you go to try your luck,” he adds.

Madrid. Corresponding

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