Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance published a draft bill on October 7 that would tax individuals’ gains from crypto-assets at 10%. The ministry put the bill to public consultation and wants parliament to vote on it in the first week of November.
The planned Greece crypto tax is one part of a larger bill. At its core, that bill deals with the protection of borrowers and the supervision of loan servicers.
According to the ministry, the new framework fills a gap in how Greek law taxes crypto-assets. Two government officials told Reuters in June that Greece was preparing a 15% capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies.
The draft’s 10% is also lower than Greece’s 15% rate on capital gains from certain securities. Those securities include unlisted shares and corporate bonds, according to PwC’s tax summary for Greece.
Reuters reported in June that Greece had no specific projection of the revenue from the tax. Both officials told the agency that most investors use platforms outside the country, which makes the size of Greece’s crypto market difficult to estimate.
What the Draft Would Tax
The draft adds an article on crypto-assets to Greece’s Income Tax Code. Taxheaven, a Greek tax news site, reproduced the text of that article.
Under it, a taxable transfer is a sale of crypto-assets for money, a payment for goods or services, or a contribution to a company’s capital. The definition also covers any other disposal of crypto-assets in exchange for something of value.
A swap of one crypto-asset for another does not create a taxable gain, the ministry said. Taxheaven’s reproduction of the article has no sentence on swaps.
The gain is the difference between the acquisition price and the transfer price. For crypto-assets that a person acquired at different times, the draft uses the average acquisition price.
When nobody can establish the acquisition price, the draft treats it as zero.
A person’s gain goes untaxed when the net gain for the tax year, after losses, does not exceed €500. Someone who loses more than €500 in a tax year can deduct that loss in the following five years, and from gains on crypto-assets alone.
Lending crypto-assets, providing liquidity, and staking all produce income that the draft would tax as interest. Staking means locking crypto-assets in a mechanism that validates transactions.
On that income, the ministry gave a rate of 10%. Greece’s Income Tax Code taxes interest at 15%, and the articles that Taxheaven reproduced do not change that rate.
Purchases of crypto-assets would count as spending on assets under Greece’s deemed income rules. When deemed income exceeds a taxpayer’s declared income, Greece adds the difference to taxable income, according to PwC.
Under the draft, people who sold crypto-assets before the new article takes effect would have 12 months to declare those gains. They would pay the tax within 60 days of the declaration, and Greece would charge no fines or interest on tax paid on time.
What the Draft Does Not Say About Greece’s Special Tax Regimes
The ministry’s announcement states that the 10% rate applies to the gains of individuals. Greece taxes its tax residents on their worldwide income, according to Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue.
Greece also has special regimes for people who move their tax residence to the country.
Under the non-dom regime for investors, a person pays €100,000 a year whatever the amount of income earned abroad, according to PwC. Income that arises in Greece falls under the general rules.
People with a pension from abroad who move their tax residence to Greece can instead pay a 7% rate on foreign-source income, PwC’s summary shows.
IMI found no mention of either regime in the draft’s crypto articles, Articles 277 to 289, as Taxheaven reproduced them. Those articles also do not change Article 5 of the Income Tax Code, which sets where income arises.
Article 5 lists the income that arises in Greece and treats all other income as arising abroad. That list is not exhaustive, and it does not name crypto-assets.
For a person under either regime, the tax on a gain from crypto-assets depends on that classification. In its inheritance and gift tax articles, the draft classifies crypto-assets as intangible movable property located abroad, the ministry said.
In September, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that Greece will raise its property transfer tax from 3% to 15% for buyers from outside the EU. The government’s summary of the measure limits it to homes.
“With high debt and poor demographics, taxes in Greece have only one way to go: up,” argues Ladislas Maurice, founder of The Wandering Investor.
Crypto Tax Rates Elsewhere in Europe
Cyprus taxes gains from cryptocurrency transactions at a flat 8%, with an exception for crypto-assets acquired through mining, according to PwC. Italy applies a 33% rate to gains from crypto-assets from fiscal year 2026 and 26% to stablecoins denominated in euros, the firm’s summary for Italy shows.
Portugal grants relief from tax on gains from crypto-assets that are not securities, when a person owned them for 365 days or more, according to PwC. IMI lists 20 countries where crypto gains can go untaxed in a separate analysis.
What Happens Next
The consultation closes on October 22. After that, the ministry aims to bring the bill to parliament for a vote in the first week of November.
The ministry’s announcement gives no start date for the tax. Newsit, a Greek news site, reported that the main income tax rules would apply from tax year 2027 if parliament passes the bill without changes.
