Slovenia declares war on untaxed crypto gains
Slovenia plans to tax profits from cryptocurrency trading by extending the currently applicable capital gains tax to all crypto assets, turning Slovenia from a crypto tax haven into a high-tax jurisdiction.
The country does not currently have any tax on individual crypto holdings, but under a proposal unveiled, a 25% tax would be applied to any profits generated when holders convert crypto to fiat currency or exchange crypto for goods and services, but not when they buy another crypto asset with the proceeds, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
Taxable persons would be required to keep records of purchase and sale of crypto assets and submit them to the tax authority on demand. They would also have to submit a tax return to the tax authorities every year.
Finance Minister Klemen Boštjančič said that it is right that crypto transactions are taxed.
"The goal of taxation of crypto assets is not to generate tax revenue, but we find it illogical and unreasonable that one of the most speculative financial instruments is not taxed at all," Boštjančič said.
The plan is to start levying the tax from 1 January 2026.
"So, any income that a person has generated [until then] will not be taxed retroactively," he said.
This is the second attempt to date in Slovenia to tax crypto. The previous such bill, proposed in April 2022 by a conservative government, proposed only a 5% tax on profits in excess of €10,000. It never even made it to the legislative phase in parliament.
European countries' tax policies on crypto are very diverse. Some countries, including Italy and Spain, have adopted the same approach as Slovenia. Others, such as Malta, Cyprus and Estonia, remain tax havens with zero rates.
