In light of increasing concerns about the crypto industry, Italy is planning to extend taxation on cryptocurrency trading as well as tighten regulations governing digital assets starting in 2023, as reported by Bloomberg on November 30th.
Regulators worldwide have increased their scrutiny of the developing asset class due to the flood of bankruptcies and spectacular failures, such as the recent fall of the FTX exchange.
However, for digital assets with profits greater than 2,000 euros, Italy’s proposed budget for 2023 includes a 26% capital gains tax. As of right now, its tax authorities have classified digital coins and tokens as foreign currency, which means lesser taxes.
Portugal, one of the most crypto-friendly nations in Europe, declared in October that it would apply a 28% short-term gain tax on digital assets. Since then, Italy has taken this harsher approach.
Additionally, the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offers taxpayers the choice to report the value of their assets as of January 1, 2023, in exchange for paying a 14% tax under the proposed legislation.
According to Bloomberg’s report:
The aim is to encourage Italians to declare their holdings of digital assets in their tax returns. The proposed law, which may be amended in parliament, also includes disclosure obligations and extends stamp duty to cryptocurrencies.
Italy’s Crypto Adoption Rate
An Australian fintech and analytics firm, Finder, surveyed over 42,000 people from 27 different nations to ascertain the extent of cryptocurrency adoption globally.
The findings place large markets like the US and UK at the bottom of the list, with nations like Vietnam, India, and Indonesia leading the activity list, with just under a third or more of their population reporting they had invested in digital currencies.
Whereas, In Italy, which ranks tenth and reported a 20% ownership rate, digital currencies are partially regulated by the EU, which is still crafting legislation for the entire bloc.
According to the gender difference in cryptocurrency, there are 23% men and 18% women, and the average age at which people start using cryptocurrency is 20%, between 35 and 44.
Moreover, the statistics from another research by Triple A found that 1.3 million people, or 2.3% of the population, possess crypto assets in Italy, which is much less than the populations of the UK (5%), and France (3.3%).
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