Denmark Tax Council recommends bill to tax unrealized crypto gains

As a seasoned crypto investor with over a decade of experience navigating the volatile and ever-changing landscape of digital assets, I find myself once again standing at the precipice of potential regulatory changes. Denmark’s Tax Law Council’s recommendations to tax unrealized gains on crypto assets have piqued my interest, and not without reason.


In simpler terms, Denmark’s Tax Law Council proposes drafting a law, which might require Danish cryptocurrency owners to pay taxes on the increase or decrease in value of their digital assets, even if they haven’t sold them yet, possibly starting from 2026.

The Council proposed in a detailed 93-page document on cryptocurrency taxes that all digital currencies should be subject to the same tax laws. They considered three possible approaches for imposing taxes on cryptocurrencies within the nation: capital gains tax, storage tax, and inventory tax.

According to Danish Tax Minister Rasmus Stoklund, many Danish cryptocurrency investors have been unjustly overtaxed using the traditional “capital gains tax” method. He proposed that revised tax regulations be established to devise a more straightforward approach for taxing digital assets.

The suggestions do not equal the laws being enforced immediately. There seems to be some confusion on social media about the report, where people are interpreting the tax modifications as a certainty.

The report seemed to favor suggesting an approach known as “annual inventory taxation.” This strategy considers an investor’s entire collection of assets as a unified “inventory” to be taxed by a specific deadline each year, regardless of whether or not the investments have been liquidated before that date.

According to the Tax Law Council, “inventory taxation” refers to a situation where taxes on capital income are levied consistently, irrespective of whether crypto-assets have actually been sold or not.

Denmark Tax Council recommends bill to tax unrealized crypto gains

From my perspective as an analyst, I would explain that under the inventory model, cryptocurrencies are treated similarly to traditional financial assets like stocks and bonds for tax purposes. This means that any gains or losses incurred from buying, selling, or exchanging these digital assets would be subject to the same tax rules applied to their conventional counterparts.

Essentially, Danish cryptocurrency owners might need to pay taxes on the appreciation and depreciation of their digital assets, as proposed in recent suggestions. However, it remains unclear whether these new tax regulations will retroactively affect current crypto holders or only apply moving forward.

Furthermore, it was disclosed by the Tax Council that the proposed legislation aims to oblige cryptocurrency service providers like crypto exchanges and digital payment companies to submit transaction data about their customers, making this information accessible across all member states of the European Union.

According to the Tax Minister, the new tax bill won’t be presented to the Danish Parliament for consideration until early 2025 at the very least. The Tax Law Council has suggested that, if this bill is to have any effect at all, the rules should not come into force before January 1, 2026, at the absolute earliest.

The suggestions from the report remain to be reviewed and approved by the Danish Parliament, after which they can become legislation.

In my view, stricter and fitting regulations are essential in this specific domain. Consequently, I am eager to propose a legislation and engage in discussions about it with members of the Folketing.

Denmark’s Tax Council’s recommendations come amid a broader move from other jurisdictions to crack down on tax, both for crypto and traditional financial assets. 

As a researcher, I am sharing an update regarding a recent endorsement made by the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. On September 5th, she supported a policy proposal that includes a 25% tax on assets that remain unsold within U.S. territory.

Likewise, there were discussions within the Italian government about increasing the capital gains tax on Bitcoin investments from 26% to 42%, effective as of 2025.

X Hall of Flame: Harris’ unrealized gains tax could ‘tank markets’ says Nansen’s Alex Svanevik

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2024-10-24 05:04