Greece’s Crypto Tax Is Coming: 10% for Gains, 15% for Staking, and One 12-Month Clean-Slate Window

Greece’s parliament approved a 10% tax on cryptocurrency capital gains and a 15% levy on staking, crypto lending and decentralized-finance income as part of a broader financial-regulation bill passed Thursday. The crypto provisions are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027, following the government’s October proposal and a June discussion of a possible 15% rate.

The capital-gains tax applies to an investor’s entire net profit once annual crypto gains exceed €500 ($557), rather than only taxing the amount above that threshold. Local financial publication Oikonomikos Tachydromos reported an exemption for annual gains not exceeding 500 euros ($560). Under the example provided, an investor with €600 ($669) in net gains would owe €60 ($67), not €10 ($11). Investors generally calculate gains by subtracting the acquisition cost from the value received when crypto is sold or otherwise disposed of, while qualifying crypto losses above €500 ($557) may be carried forward for five years and offset against future gains.

Selling Bitcoin for euros is treated as a taxable disposal, while spending cryptocurrency on goods or services can also trigger capital-gains tax. Yield from staking, lending and providing liquidity to decentralized protocols will be classified as interest income and taxed at 15%. Athens says crypto-to-crypto swaps should not create taxable gains, but a review by parliament’s Scientific Service warned that the bill’s language covering disposals made “for consideration” could also capture token-to-token trades. The reviewers recommended an explicit exemption and clearer rules for stablecoin and electronic-money-token exchanges.

Investors will receive a 12-month window to voluntarily declare previously unreported crypto gains without late-filing penalties or interest, provided they meet the legislation’s conditions and pay the resulting tax within 60 days of filing. Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance first proposed the tax in October, and a senior Finance Ministry official told Reuters that guidance on transaction transparency and tax audits would be issued in the coming weeks. The government has not estimated how much revenue the measure will raise.