The new Italian government plans to impose a 26% tax on capital gains from crypto trading, according to the draft budget for next year. The ruling centre-right coalition is preparing to force Italians to declare their digital assets and pay 14% on their holdings.
The Italian government intends to enter the crypto currency profit
Officials in Rome appear poised to expand and tighten rules on the disclosure and taxation of digital assets. The change could come with Italy’s 2023 budget, which is expected to target profits from crypto wealth and trade.
A budget provision proposed by the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Georgia Meloni would extend a 26% tax on capital gains of up to 2,000 euros (approx. $2,080) to crypto assets, Bloomberg reported.
The ruling coalition elected at the end of September will give taxpayers the option to declare the value of their digital assets from January 1, 2023 and pay a tax of 14%. The goal is to encourage Italian taxpayers to declare their holdings in their tax returns.
Under current tax law, digital currencies and tokens are treated as foreign currency in Italy, subject to lower taxes. The bill, which is still undergoing amendments in parliament, also introduces disclosure obligations and extends stamp duty to cryptocurrencies.
The report cites Triple A data that about 1.3 million Italians (2.3% of the country’s population) own crypto assets. This compares with 5% in the UK and 3.3% in neighboring France.
Meloni, Italy’s first woman to head Rome’s executive branch and head of the far-right Italian Brothers party, has previously campaigned for tax cuts.
Her government’s strict stance on crypto is now a step in the footsteps of Portugal, one of the most crypto-friendly members of the European Union, which in October expressed its intention to tax short-term crypto profits by 28% next year. It comes at a time when global regulations are being tightened following a wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry, such as the recent collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
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