On December 29, 2022, a couple of days before the top of the 12 months, the Italian Senate approved its 2023 budget, which included a tax increase for cryptocurrency investors – a 26% tax on capital gains from trading cryptocurrencies above €2,000 (roughly $2.13 on the time of publication).
The approved regulations define crypto assets as “a digital representation of value or rights that might be transferred and stored electronically using distributed ledger or similar technology.” Previously, crypto assets were treated as foreign currency echange within the country, with lower taxes.
As reported by Cointelegraph, the law also provides that taxpayers could have the choice to declare the worth of their digital assets from January 1 and pay a 14% tax, an incentive to encourage Italians to declare their digital assets.
Other changes introduced by the Budget Act include tax amnesties to cut back penalties for non-payment of taxes, fiscal incentives to create jobs, and lowering the retirement age. It also includes €21 billion ($22.4 billion) in tax breaks for businesses and households facing the energy crisis.
Related: MiCA comes with a transparent warning to those with influence over cryptocurrencies
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s first female prime minister, won widespread support for her bill from the legislature despite promising drastic tax cuts when elected in September.
According to local media reports, measures taken by the Italian government to cut back gas consumption across the country, including greater than 15 days without central heating, while asking the population to show down their heating by one degree and switch it off an hour longer a day in the course of the winter.
The Italian laws follows the approval of the Crypto Asset Markets Act (MiCA) on October 10, establishing a consistent regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies across the 27 member states of the European Union. MiCA is anticipated to enter into force in 2024.
