Greece proposes a 10% tax on cryptocurrencies with an exemption of 500 euros

Greece proposes to impose a 10% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency gains and exempt it from the 500 euro limit

According to Crypto.news, Greece has announced a draft legislation proposing a 10% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency profits, with annual earnings up to 500 euros eligible for tax exemption. The draft is currently in the public consultation stage and is expected to be submitted to the Greek Parliament for review in November 2026.

Core Points

Draft provides for a 10% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency profits, while also exempting the first 500 euros of annual gains. A previous plan proposed by the Ministry of Finance in June 2026 had recommended a 15% tax rate but retaining the same € 500 tax exemption. The draft reduces the tax rate to 10% from the earlier 15%.

The draft has been made public during public consultation and is scheduled to be submitted to the Greek Parliament in November 2026. This is the country's first dedicated framework to tax gains from digital assets, filling the previous lack of comprehensive cryptocurrency tax rules. This move also coincides with the time when the European Union's Cryptographic Asset Reporting System (DAC8) enters its first reporting cycle.

Draft content and outstanding matters

The bill establishes clear tax rates and annual exemptions that did not exist in previous Greek law. However, the draft does not address several practical problems. The available summary does not explain how losses are deducted, whether transfers between wallets are considered taxable events, and how cryptocurrency transactions are valued for tax purposes.

The draft materials did not explain why the tax rate was adjusted from 15% to 10%, and it was unclear whether other provisions in the earlier plan had been revised. The draft, released on Wednesday, proposes tax exemptions on annual gains of up to 500 euros, Cointelegraph reported. Crypto.news reported that the draft was released late Thursday for public consultation. The two media outlets described the timeline slightly differently: Crypto.news sees November as the date for the plan to be submitted to Parliament, while Cointelegraph describes the measure as a step towards Greece's first digital asset taxation framework. Both parties pointed out that the text is only a draft and has not yet become law.

Although DAC8 standardizes reporting requirements, EU member states still retain the right to decide which cryptocurrency transactions should be subject to tax and tax rates. The tax rates cited in the Greek proposal range from 8% to 30% among European countries and generally apply to capital gains.

Background and Significance

So far, Greece has kept cryptocurrency earnings in a regulatory vacuum, which means that investors have no specific compliance rules and no clear basis for reporting. Even though it is still in the draft stage, the codified tax rate provides a specific planning basis for residents and exchanges.

这一时机并非偶然。DAC8推动加密服务提供商收集客户身份、税务识别号以及涉及外部钱包的某些转账详情。报告要求扩展到通过跨境运营平台处理的交易，这直接指向了希腊 stated 的难以衡量国内活动的难题。在早期的制度下，此类活动对当局来说 largely invisible（几乎不可见）；而现在，无论平台位于何处，数据开始流动。

在欧洲其他地区，报告规则引发了法律阻力。9月，法国最高行政法院驳回了Bull Bitcoin和Paymium暂停法国DAC8实施法令的紧急请求，理由是紧迫性不足，而另一项寻求废除该法令的挑战仍在进行中。尽管如此，法国的报告义务仍在继续。

各国在将报告数据转化为税收方面存在分歧。西班牙税务局在9月澄清，当投资者保留私钥控制权时，自托管加密货币不属于Form 721的申报范围，但通过外国托管人持有的资产仍可能符合条件。英国也公布了其基准数据：根据英国税务海关总署（HMRC）的数据，在2024-2025纳税年度，有17,600名纳税人报告了13.8亿英镑的可征税加密货币收益，其中240名投资者每人申报的收益超过100万英镑，合计达7.17亿英镑。英国当局预计将于2027年开始在国际报告规则下接收加密货币客户信息。

There is currently no comparable data in Greece, which complicates assessing the actual revenue of the proposed tax.

Matters of concern

The results of public consultation will determine whether the draft text will change before it is submitted to Parliament in November. Two details are worth tracking: whether the bill stipulates how losses are processed and transfers between wallets are processed, and whether it sets an effective date. In addition, the first DAC8 data exchange between tax authorities is scheduled to take place in 2027.

FAQs

What tax rate will Greece apply to cryptocurrency gains?

The draft for public consultation provides for a 10% capital gains tax on cryptocurrency profits, which is lower than the 15% tax rate proposed in the Ministry of Finance's earlier plan. Earnings for the first 500 euros each year will be tax-free.

When will the Greek cryptocurrency tax take effect?

It is not law yet. The draft must go through public consultation and is scheduled to be submitted to the Greek Parliament in November. Existing details do not specify a specific effective date.

How does DAC8 affect Greek cryptocurrency investors?

DAC8, which is the EU crypto reporting directive, came into effect on January 1, 2026. Service providers must collect customer identities, tax identification numbers and details of certain transfers, which will be exchanged between participating tax authorities in 2027. Each member state still sets its own tax rates.

Do Greek officials know how much revenue this tax will bring?

No. Authorities have not released revenue estimates, mainly because many Greek investors trade through foreign-based platforms, making measuring domestic activity complex.

Have the specific operational details of taxation been fully determined?

No. The draft summary provided did not specify how losses would be deducted, whether transfers between wallets would be taxable, or how transactions would be valued for tax purposes.