Greece crypto tax law sets 10% levy from 2027

Greek investors now know what the state will take from their crypto profits. The Greece crypto tax, approved by the Hellenic Parliament on Thursday, November 5, sets a 10% rate on annual net gains and a separate 15% charge on yield from staking, lending and decentralized finance, with the rules due to apply from January 1, 2027.

What happened

The crypto measures were folded into a wider Finance Ministry bill that also deals with lending supervision, borrower protections and market rules. Individuals with net crypto gains of €500 or less in a year are exempt. Once that line is crossed, however, the 10% rate applies to the whole gain rather than only the excess, so a €600 profit would carry a €60 bill.

Gains are generally measured as disposal value minus acquisition cost, and spending crypto on goods or services can count as a disposal. Returns from staking, lending and supplying liquidity to DeFi protocols will be classed as interest income and taxed at 15%. Losses above €500 can be carried forward for five years against future crypto gains.

The law also opens a 12-month window to declare previously unreported crypto income without late penalties or interest, provided the tax is paid within 60 days of filing. The final rate matches the October consultation draft, which had already come in below the 15% that officials floated in June. Cointelegraph, citing the local financial publication Oikonomikos Tachydromos, reported the same thresholds and start date.

Why it matters

The main open question is swaps. The government says exchanging one token for another should not trigger tax, but parliament's Scientific Service warned that the bill's reference to disposals made "for consideration" could capture token-to-token trades. It recommended an explicit exemption and clearer treatment of stablecoins and e-money tokens. For active traders who rotate between assets without cashing out, that wording matters more than the headline rate. The structure also taxes yield more heavily than price gains, so stakers and DeFi liquidity providers will face a higher rate on income than traders pay on profits.

The Greece crypto tax adds to a patchwork of European approaches. Latvia moved on crypto tax payments at a similar headline rate, while Paris recently shelved a stablecoin tax. As MiCA standardizes licensing, tax policy is becoming a sharper point of difference between EU members.

What's next

Guidance on transparency of transactions and on audits is due within weeks, a senior Finance Ministry official told Reuters. That guidance, and any amendment on swaps, will determine how heavy the compliance burden becomes.

Investors will need full transaction records to prove cost and disposal values before the Greece crypto tax applies, and exchanges serving Greek customers may face pressure to supply cost-basis statements. Decrypt's report details the parliamentary review.