The State Budget Bill for 2023, which has recently been presented by the Government, contains several relevant tax provisions regarding crypto assets, meaning any digital representation of value or rights which may be transferred or stored electronically using distributed ledger technology or similar technology. Below is a summary of the proposed measures, which may result in new tax reporting obligations, including for crypto asset service providers. The final overall vote of the State Budget will take place on 25 November 2023.

Personal Income Tax (PIT)

1. Individuals or corporate legal persons, organisms, and other entities without legal personality, which provide custody and management services in relation to crypto assets on behalf of others or manage one or more crypto assets’ platforms, must communicate to the Tax Authority, until the end of January of each year, for each taxpayer, through an official form, the operations carried out with their intervention regarding crypto assets.
2. Operations related to the issuance of crypto assets, including mining, or the validation of crypto assets transactions through consensus mechanisms are considered as income from commercial and industrial activities (category B). The taxable income under the simplified PIT regime is determined by applying a coefficient of 0.15 to the sales of goods and products, including crypto assets.
3. Gains obtained from the disposal of crypto assets which do not qualify as securities are subject to taxation as capital gains income (category G) – at a 28% rate, without prejudice to the option for aggregation – but gains arising from crypto assets held for a period of 365 days or more are exempt.
4. The attribution of crypto assets in kind follows the same rules as other income in kind for PIT purposes.

 Corporate Income Tax (CIT)

5. The taxable income of CIT taxpayers who are subject to the simplified regime and derive income from crypto assets (which are not considered capital gains, nor derived from capital gains or other asset increments), is determined by applying a coefficient of 0.15 to the income from crypto assets.

 Stamp Duty (SD)

6. SD at a rate of 4% over the commissions and consideration charged by or through the intermediation of crypto assets’ service providers, shall be due by the customers and assessed by the former over the amount charged, when the service provider or the customer is domiciled in Portugal. When the service provider is not domiciled in Portugal, the assessment of the SD is due by the crypto assets’ service provider domiciled in Portugal who has intermediated the transaction or, if there is no such provider, the tax representative who, for this purpose, shall be appointed in Portugal.
7. Transfers for no consideration of crypto assets deposited in institutions with registered office, effective management, or permanent establishment in Portugal are subject to SD at a rate of 10% or, if not the case, in respect to successions to the estates of deceased persons when the deceased is domiciled in Portugal, and in all other transfers for no consideration when the beneficiary is domiciled in Portugal.
8.  The Bill sets forth rules for determining the taxable value of crypto assets.

 Real Estate Transfer Tax (IMT)

9. In contracts of exchange of real estate for crypto assets, the value stated in the act or contract is considered, for IMT purposes, the value of the assets, including crypto assets, given in exchange, to be determined as per the rules set forth in the Stamp Duty Code.

For more information on this Tax Alert please contact:
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