As tax season approaches, some have cautioned that failure to comply with the Treasury’s tax-related regulations could prove costly for both new and seasoned Spanish crypto investors.
Adoption is on the rise.
The Association for Media Research (AIMC), a network of media outlets, production businesses, and digital agencies, recently released a report claiming to have surveyed over 15,600 Spanish web users on their crypto-related activities.
According to the organization, about 13 percent of respondents said they owned tokens, up from 50 percent in 2021.
Almost a quarter of respondents who claimed they owned cryptocurrency also said they had used tokens to make payments in the previous 12 months, with crypto purchases accounting for six out of ten transactions. Over a third of cryptocurrency owners stated they had sold their holdings in the previous year.
The figures may not be genuinely reflective of the wider people, however, because the study was done online.
Success in sports
The link between Spanish football and cryptocurrency usage is becoming stronger. FC Barcelona, despite the fact that its board has apparently rejected the notion of negotiating a jersey sponsorship agreement with a number of cryptocurrency exchanges, is nevertheless interested in the technology.
El Financiero said that the club’s President Joan Laporta spoke at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest mobile phone conference, held annually in Barcelona, about the possibilities of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto.
Despite the fact that the MWC ended earlier this month, Laporta stated that the club plans to introduce a number of NFTs as well as a crypto asset (in addition to the club’s existing fan token). He claimed that blockchain technology may help the club’s fan outreach be more valuable. The group, according to Laporta, intended to be “innovators” in the blockchain and crypto worlds.
Wrinkles in the tax code
However, crypto acceptance in Spain may not be as straightforward as it appears. As previously reported, the Spanish parliament approved a controversial regulation last year requiring crypto users to register all of their token holdings, even if they are held on foreign platforms.
As a result, crypto supporters will be forced to file the dreaded Modelo 720 “declaration of assets abroad.” However, as The Objective pointed out, “nobody” seems to know if and how they should register their crypto assets on the form. “Several law firms and tax specialists,” according to the news source, have expressed reservations about how tokens should be declared, and “the Ministry of Finance has not officially clarified the criteria to be applied” when filing declarations.
The following is a quote from a lawyer:
“Taxpayers cannot declare cryptocurrencies if there is no section [on the form] to do so and, therefore, they cannot be penalized for it. Consequently, many will choose not to declare their assets.”
Cryptocurrency is taxed in several other countries when it is sold for fiat. However, the new rule requires crypto HODLers to reveal their tokens but does not specify how this should be done. Despite the “chaos” – and with only two weeks until the tax filing deadline – the Treasury has warned people who fail to register their earnings with fines of USD 5,550 and upward.
There are a lot of worries.
These worries appear to have alarmed some cryptocurrency investors. According to Europa Press, a recent survey of cryptocurrency owners conducted by the Spanish office of accountancy software supplier TaxScouts indicated that 30% of those polled said they “would stop investing in cryptocurrencies if tax pressure on these assets increased.”
Over half said that they had made no mention of their crypto assets on the income statements they had given, maybe hoping that the taxman would not be able to follow them.
