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Crypto Gains in Portugal: The 365-Day Rule and How Passive Investors Are Taxed
🪙 What Counts as a Crypto-Asset?
For IRS purposes, a crypto-asset is any digital representation of value or rights that can be transferred or stored electronically using distributed ledger technology or similar (Article 10, n.º 17 of the IRS Code).
- Included: Bitcoin, Ether, altcoins, utility tokens and stablecoins
- Excluded: unique, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that can’t be exchanged for other crypto-assets (n.º 18)
- Security tokens (crypto-assets that are securities) follow the general rules for shares and bonds
This article covers the passive investor — someone who buys, holds and sells crypto as a private investment (category G). Trading as a business and mining are category B.
⏳ The 365-Day Rule
- Held for 365 days or more: gains and losses are excluded from IRS (Article 10, n.º 19). You still declare the sale, in Annex G1
- Held for less than 365 days: the net gain is taxed at a special rate of 28% (Article 72), or at progressive rates if you opt to aggregate
- Crypto bought before 2023: the holding period before the rules came into force counts towards the 365 days
FIFO: when you sell, the law assumes you sell the oldest units first — and FIFO is applied separately for each platform or wallet provider where your crypto is held (Article 43).
🔄 Crypto-to-Crypto Swaps
Exchanging one crypto-asset for another (for example, BTC for ETH, or ETH for a stablecoin) is not taxed at the time of the swap. The crypto you receive takes the acquisition value of the crypto you gave up (Article 10, n.º 20).
Tax only arises when you dispose of crypto for euros or another currency, or use it to pay for goods or services.
In a binding ruling of October 2025, the tax authority also accepted that an immediate, purely technical conversion into a stablecoin before cashing out has no separate tax effect. How the holding period is counted after a swap isn’t expressly settled in the law — keep records of the original purchase date and every swap.
🧮 How the Gain Is Calculated
Gain = Sale value – Acquisition value – Expenses
- Sale value: presumed to be the market value on the date of the sale
- Acquisition value: what you paid (in a swap, the value carried over from the crypto given up)
- Expenses: fees necessarily incurred to buy and sell
Example: you bought 1 ETH for €2,000 in March and sold it for €3,000 in November of the same year, paying €20 in fees. Gain = €980 × 28% = €274.40. If you’d waited until the following March, the gain would have been excluded.
Losses: short-term losses can be offset against short-term gains of the same year and, if you aggregate, carried forward for five years (Article 55). Losses with counterparties in tax havens aren’t deductible.
🌍 When the Exclusions Don't Apply
The 365-day exclusion and the no-tax-on-swaps rule only apply to operations with parties resident in the EU or EEA, or in a country with a double tax treaty or an agreement on exchange of tax information with Portugal (Article 10, n.º 21).
If the counterparty is resident in a jurisdiction outside that circle, the gain is taxed even if you held the crypto for more than a year, and even if you received crypto in exchange. Check where the exchange or platform you use is established.
✈️ Leaving Portugal: The Exit Rule
If you stop being a Portuguese tax resident, the law treats it as if you sold your crypto on that date (Article 10, n.º 22). The gain is the market value on the date you lose residence minus the acquisition value and acquisition costs.
Crypto held for less than 365 days at that date can therefore generate tax even though you sold nothing. Plan your departure date with this in mind.
📋 How to Declare
- Annex G: sales of crypto held for less than 365 days, with the platform identified; there are specific tables for the exception cases and for loss of residence
- Annex G1: sales of crypto held for 365 days or more (excluded, but declared)
- No sales in the year? Simply holding crypto doesn’t need to be declared
Keep exports of your transaction history from every platform and wallet, with dates, amounts in euros and fees.
📡 The Tax Authority Will Know
- Platforms that hold crypto for clients or run exchanges must report their clients’ operations to the tax authority (Article 124-A)
- Under Law 26/2026, which transposed the EU’s DAC8 directive, crypto-asset service providers report users’ transactions every year by 31 May, and the information is exchanged between EU countries
- Stamp Duty: 4% applies to commissions charged by crypto service providers, and 10% to crypto received as a gift or inheritance (with exemptions for spouses, children and parents)
💡 Practical Tips
- Track your purchase dates for every coin — the 365-day line is worth 28%.
- Use EU-based or treaty-country platforms where possible.
- Planning to leave Portugal? Check which holdings are under one year old.
- Don’t forget Annex G1 — excluded gains must still be declared.
🚀 Final Considerations
For patient investors, Portugal remains very attractive: crypto held for a year or more can be sold tax-free, and swaps between coins aren’t taxed. Short-term gains, however, pay 28% — and with DAC8 reporting, the tax authority will see your transactions.
📢 Expert Advice: Before selling, check the purchase date of the exact units being sold under FIFO, platform by platform. A few days can decide whether you pay 28% or nothing.
Investing in crypto from Portugal? Step Inside Portugal’s tax team can review your transactions and declare them correctly — find out more about our tax services here. ✨
This article is for general information only and doesn’t constitute tax or investment advice. It reflects the rules as of October 2026.
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