Greece Plans 15% Crypto Capital Gains Tax: Report
Key Takeaways
- •Greece's draft legislation would levy a 15% tax on cryptocurrency capital gains, with the first €500 of annual profits exempt.
- •The tax would be triggered only when crypto holdings are converted to fiat currency or used to pay for goods and services, while swapping one cryptocurrency for another would not be taxed.
- •The rules would apply retroactively from January 1, 2025, meaning gains from that year onward would be declared on tax returns filed in 2027.
- •Investors could carry crypto losses forward against future gains for up to five tax years, and tokens earned through staking or lending would be taxed only when sold.
- •Greece's proposed rate would rank in the lower-middle of EU crypto tax rates, which range from 8% in Cyprus to 30% in France.
Greece is preparing legislation that would tax cryptocurrency investors' capital gains at a rate of 15%, according to Reuters and local media.
The country's Finance Ministry has drafted a bill containing the proposal, as reported by Greek outlet Parapolitika. Greece currently has no legal framework for taxing crypto.
Under the draft legislation, the first €500 (about $580) of crypto gains each year would be exempt.
The bill would tax only the net gain when crypto is sold, after deducting trading fees. Swapping one cryptocurrency for another, such as bitcoin, would not trigger the tax. The levy would apply only when holdings are converted into euros or another fiat currency, or used to pay for goods and services.
Investors would be able to carry losses forward against future crypto gains for up to five tax years, and tokens earned through staking or lending would be taxed only when sold.
The rules would apply retroactively from January 1, 2025, meaning gains from last year onward would be declared on tax returns filed in 2027 — including gains made before any crypto tax framework existed. The bill is due to be submitted to parliament in November.
Greece already follows the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The Hellenic Capital Market Commission authorizes and supervises crypto service providers, while the Bank of Greece handles prudential oversight of stablecoin issuers. Licensing has been slow, however: no Greek providers appeared on the EU's register until September, roughly two months after MiCA's transitional period ended on July 1.
Since January 2026, the EU's DAC8 directive has required crypto exchanges to collect detailed data on their users and transactions and report it to national tax authorities, much as banks already do for ordinary accounts. Greece wrote those rules into national law in May, putting the reporting regime in force in Greece ahead of any tax on crypto gains.
Crypto tax treatment varies widely across the bloc, with rates ranging from 8% in Cyprus to 30% in France. At 15%, Greece's proposed rate would sit in the lower-middle of that range, above Cyprus and below France. Some countries are more lenient: Germany exempts crypto held for more than a year, and Portugal does the same after 365 days.
This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Mathew Di Salvo.
