According to a report from Bitcoin.com, the Spanish Treasury is taking steps to exert greater control over cryptocurrency holdings belonging to taxpayers. The body is proposing a reform to the current tax law so that the national tax watchdog, Agencia Tributaria, can seize any cryptocurrency assets held by taxpayers when executing their debts. This proposal was submitted to the European Union (EU) in 2021 and is expected to be put into effect soon, with reports indicating that the government is already making preparations to create the necessary conditions for the reform to be applied.
To this end, the Spanish administration has issued a royal decree that designates electronic money entities as tax collection agents, which means they will have to execute seizure actions on their customers' digital money and crypto assets when required by the government. Previously, this duty was only required of traditional banks and credit institutions.
Moreover, this year, taxpayers will be required to declare cryptocurrency assets held outside the country for the first time. This data will be of use in applying the new regulation when it is passed. Furthermore, tax authorities will also use data from crypto tax statements obtained since 2021 to collect money from tax debts when necessary.
However, the swift implementation of these new cryptocurrency laws is expected to present a significant burden on Spanish regulators. They will have to change their definitions and adapt to the new tax structure and its rules, which may conflict with the concepts introduced in EU-wide rules such as MiCA, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.
This regulation has a different definition of cryptocurrency, and the general EU tax directive to be applied in 2026 may also pose a challenge to Spanish regulators.
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