Portugal has a very attractive regime for professional crypto investors

[MrTambourineBTC]

Registering as a self-employed/business, you can enjoy a very attractive tax rate under the simplified regime (less than 200k€ profit a year).

Only 15% of your earnings are taxed (the rest is considered expenses).

This is confirmed by several sources, tax consultants, and even the Portuguese AT posted a document in November 2024 clarifying crypto taxes in which they clearly stated that under a business activities, there are 2 types of taxation: 15% for non-mining activities and 95% for mining activities.

Sources:

The AT directive from nov-24:
https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov....hetos_informativos/Documents/Criptoativos.pdf

(Almost) doctoral thesis from early '23 confirms the same: Trading is considered the same as on-chain staking:
https://estudogeral.uc.pt/retrieve/263916/A tributação dos Criptoativos_Mª Leonor Gonçalves.pdf

More sources:
https://www.doutorfinancas.pt/impostos/irs/criptoativos-o-que-deve-fazer-na-declaracao-de-irs/

Also, the law is very clear:

Sale of goods and products, operations with crypto assets, with the exception income deriving from crypto asset mining, as well as provisions of services in the hospitality, food and beverage sector, except those related to local accommodation establishments

0.15​

"operations with crypto assets" is a very broad definition that can include staking, trading, yield farming, airdrop farming, etc. And so if you have such a business, with planning, strategic decisions, etc. it would be very easy and would make a lot of sense to justify them all under your business activities.


If it is to change in next years, who knows, the law is very young, but for now it is a great tool for professional crypto investors looking to make under 200k€, with effective rates of ~8% on crypto winnings (plus another ~5% for social security), and a total of around 13% on all profits.

Also, worth noting that those benefits would vanish if the annual profits cross the 200k€ mark, as we would be taxed under organized regime in which case we could deduct expenses but they would never be able to go up to 85% deductions ^^


I imagine it would be also possible to separate your crypto trading aactivities s a business from personal investments to enjoy long term capital gains (category G) at 0% but I have no confirmation on that. But my guess is that it would be reasonable.

 

[Martin Everson]

I looked at

https://kryptos.io/guides/portugal-crypto-tax-guide

and

https://www.inlis.pt/post/the-2025-essential-guide-to-crypto-tax-in-portugal

long term capital gains (category G) at 0% but I have no confirmation on that.

"Profits from crypto held for less than 365 days are taxed at 28%. Long-term holdings (over 365 days) are generally tax-exempt unless the tokens are securities or held outside the EEA."

All in all it sounds interesting but sounds like a convoluted tax trap with many different rates and restrictions. They want your crypto to be held inside the EEA where I suppose they can more easily issue an asset freeze order if needed.

 

[JackAlabama]

I looked at

https://kryptos.io/guides/portugal-crypto-tax-guide

and

https://www.inlis.pt/post/the-2025-essential-guide-to-crypto-tax-in-portugal




"Profits from crypto held for less than 365 days are taxed at 28%. Long-term holdings (over 365 days) are generally tax-exempt unless the tokens are securities or held outside the EEA."

All in all it sounds interesting but sounds like a convoluted tax trap with many different rates and restrictions. They want your crypto to be held inside the EEA where I suppose they can more easily issue an asset freeze order if needed.

yeah indeed i would not trust the eu and this "inside the eea" sounds highly sus.

 

[MrTambourineBTC]

I looked at

https://kryptos.io/guides/portugal-crypto-tax-guide

and

https://www.inlis.pt/post/the-2025-essential-guide-to-crypto-tax-in-portugal




"Profits from crypto held for less than 365 days are taxed at 28%. Long-term holdings (over 365 days) are generally tax-exempt unless the tokens are securities or held outside the EEA."

All in all it sounds interesting but sounds like a convoluted tax trap with many different rates and restrictions. They want your crypto to be held inside the EEA where I suppose they can more easily issue an asset freeze order if needed.

I looked at

https://kryptos.io/guides/portugal-crypto-tax-guide

and

https://www.inlis.pt/post/the-2025-essential-guide-to-crypto-tax-in-portugal




"Profits from crypto held for less than 365 days are taxed at 28%. Long-term holdings (over 365 days) are generally tax-exempt unless the tokens are securities or held outside the EEA."

All in all it sounds interesting but sounds like a convoluted tax trap with many different rates and restrictions. They want your crypto to be held inside the EEA where I suppose they can more easily issue an asset freeze order if needed.

first, the 2 articles you quoted have it all wrong and mixed up indeed is sounds convoluted. The first article doesn't give any info anything about the category B i mention or the simplified regime, the second one mixed the "standard tax rates starting at 15" with the 15% coefficient under the simplified regime (which gives a max tax of ~8% for people making under 200k profit a year).

There is no trap lol
You leave if the law changes in the next year? Just sell your holdings for EUR before year end, you're a professional, so you'll pay as a business (8% under simplified regime) and just leave the country or stop your activity altogether.

The "they want your crypto" take made me laugh a bit lol
"Crypto under EEA" shows ignorance from the crypto Portuguese authorities, they were probably not too aware of self custody, that's it. As in many parts of the law they made in 2022 that shows they were not aware of how crypto works at all (they talked only of mining and staking as crypto activities because that's all they knew at the time).
It shows a lack of knowledge of where crypto can be stored, and I think they just want it to be more traceable (that is, in compliant CEXes. How are they supposed to freeze your crypto because "it's held under EEA"? What is held under EEA? The keys? Lol
That is a conspiracy theory for no reason. The Portuguese government simply was forced to regulate something they knew nothing about and didn't care or want tor regulate in the first place.

Also, the government can't know what cryptos you have until you tell them once you have sold them (unlike Spain where u have to tell them each year what you hold).

The reality is Portugal is for now a fantastic place for a professional crypto investor that doesn't make a huge amount each year. 8%+5% social security.

Also, potential to separate your professional activities (at 13%) with longer term investment through category G at 0%(although I don't have confirmation on this) but Claude AI said it was possible but to further seek consultancy with a tax consultant.

 

[Alonzo]

but Claude AI said it was possible but to further seek consultancy with a tax consultant.

But you are relying on AI to gather these informations?

Did you contact a Portuguese Tax expert on crypto before writing this ?

 

[MrTambourineBTC]

But you are relying on AI to gather these informations?

Did you contact a Portuguese Tax expert on crypto before writing this ?

1-i gathered these informations from the sources i posted. i imagine you haven't taken a look at those if you're asking this question. Then I gave all that info to Claude AI and confirmed all of it. AI is just one more tool to quikly gather, translate and sintetize information.

2-i did contact a "portuguese tax expert" mid year last year who told me the same about the 15% coefficient for simplified regime, but i didnt trust him at the time. I did more research and eventually found all the links i've posted. i've posted the law, the guidance from last november coming directly from the Portuguese AT, and an almost doctoral thesis on the Portuguese crypto law and they all confirm the same thing. the law is also relatively straightforward and the lack of clarity was more or less clarified in the said guidance from last november which is what gave me the click moment. The codes for crypto earnings for a business are just 2: one for non-mining (0.15) and the other for mining (0.95),

The fields to be completed in Table 4 A are:

• 419 - Income from operations with crypto assets, where you must indicate the total gross value obtained from trading ;
• 422 - Income from crypto asset mining, where you must indicate the total gross value obtained from mining.

So that's one more sign that the only possibilities the law contemplates for a business/self-employed are these two. i've done my full research and your suggestion of me relying on AI spit means you haven't taken the time to read the first message. I presented hear a very clear case, even quoted the portuguese tax code which is very clear will do that again:

Sale of goods and products, operations with crypto assets, with the exception income deriving from crypto asset mining, as well as provisions of services in the hospitality, food and beverage sector, except those related to local accommodation establishments

0.15​

the only part that is a ltitle bit dubious even as a professional would be the farming of airdrops. If you systematically, strategically prepare to farm those, you can still argue they are a systematic part of your activity and therefore should be taxed as a business at ~8%.

Otherwise, they are taxed at 28% but if you sell them to stablecoins and hold those airdropped stablecoins for over a year they become tax free. But then again, category E is only for particular non-professional investors, so all points towards the fact that under a business you can include for sure trading and yield farming, but also airdrop farming and any defi crypto activity that is set up as a business...

This tax consultant confirms the same:

 

[Martin Everson]

yeah indeed i would not trust the eu and this "inside the eea" sounds highly sus.

100%. Absolutely no way I would take crypto and go and live in EU with their regulations if they paid me.

Absolutely nothing about Portugal is remotely attractive including tax rate .