What Italy taxes on crypto-assets and how the gain is worked out

Giulia bought bitcoin for €15,000 in 2023 and sells it in February 2026 for €25,000. A colleague told her that gains under 2,000 euros are tax-free and that the rate is 26%. Both tips are out of date: the threshold disappeared for gains realised from 2025 and, since 1 January 2026, the tax on her €10,000 gain has risen to 33%, which means €3,300.

A category of its own among miscellaneous income

Until 2022 crypto-assets had no box in Italy's income tax code and were squeezed, with plenty of doubt, into the rules on foreign currency. Today Article 67 of the TUIR gives them their own letter in paragraph 1, letter (c-sexies), which places them among miscellaneous financial income.

The provision reaches gains and other proceeds realised through redemption, sale for consideration, exchange or holding of crypto-assets, however they are named. The wording is deliberately broad: it does not matter whether the asset is marketed as a coin, a token or anything else.

The definition therefore covers the best-known cryptocurrencies but also tokens that embody rights, as long as they circulate on a distributed ledger or something comparable. What counts is the nature of the asset, not the commercial label chosen by the issuer or the exchange selling it.

Being miscellaneous income has two consequences. First, what is taxed is the difference between what you receive and what you spent, not the whole amount received. Second, losses can offset gains under precise rules, which the second module examines in detail.

Which transactions create taxable income

Selling for euros is the simplest case: you hand over the crypto-assets and receive money. Redemption works the same way, meaning the issuer of the token pays back its value. In both cases what matters is the moment the transaction is completed.

An exchange of one crypto-asset for another is also caught. Here the consideration is not a sum of money, so the law replaces it with the normal value of the crypto-assets received in return.

There is an exception written into letter (c-sexies) itself: an exchange between crypto-assets with the same characteristics and functions is not a taxable event. Deciding when two crypto-assets share characteristics and functions is a matter of interpretation, and the Revenue Agency's guidance is the place to look.

Finally, the provision mentions holding. Some services reward users who leave their crypto-assets with them, periodically crediting new units or other income. These amounts do not come from a sale, yet they are still miscellaneous income under letter (c-sexies).

• Selling crypto-assets for euros or another legal-tender currency
• Redemption of value by the issuer of the token
• Exchanging them for crypto-assets that do not share the same characteristics and functions
• Proceeds received simply for holding crypto-assets

It also helps to notice what is missing from the list. Moving your own crypto-assets from one personal wallet to another in your name is neither a redemption nor a sale nor an exchange. Buying with euros creates no income either: income only arises when you exit the position or collect proceeds from it.

Things change when crypto-assets are moved to an account with an intermediary held in other people's names. The second module explains that, under the administered regime, such a move is treated as a sale.

How the gain is computed

The method is laid down in Article 68(9-bis) of the TUIR. The gain is the difference between the price received, or the normal value of the crypto-assets obtained in an exchange, and the purchase cost or value.

The tricky part is proving the cost. The law requires the taxpayer to document it with certain and precise evidence. Without that evidence the cost is deemed to be zero, and the entire amount received becomes a gain.

Anyone who bought on exchanges that shut down years ago, or shuffled their holdings between many wallets without keeping receipts, risks paying tax on the whole sale price. Keeping statements, order confirmations and the bank transfers used to buy is the easiest protection.

The example points to a real danger. Someone who frequently swaps crypto-assets of different kinds can build up a tax bill with no cash to pay it, because the income arises at the swap and not at a later sale for euros. Setting aside part of each gain for tax is basic prudence.

Marco will later need a documented purchase cost for the asset he received. Paragraph 9-bis does not spell this out, but the normal value already taxed at the swap is the obvious reference: keep evidence of it and check the rule in the Revenue Agency's guidance before selling.

For crypto-assets received by inheritance or gift, paragraph 9-bis sets a conventional cost. On inheritance it is the value finally assessed or, failing that, the value declared for inheritance tax. On a gift it is the cost originally borne by the donor.

Income from holding follows an even simpler rule: it is taxed without any deduction. No cost is subtracted, because there is no asset sold whose purchase price could be recovered.

Paragraph 9-bis specifies that proceeds received during the tax year are taxed. What matters is the year in which the new units or other proceeds are actually credited, and their euro value must be measured at that moment.

Keeping a transaction log

Every calculation rests on data only the taxpayer holds. For each purchase you need the date, the quantity, the price paid in euros and the fees. For each sale, swap or reward you need the date, the quantity and the euro value received.

A plain spreadsheet updated after each trade beats any reconstruction attempted in May when the return is due. Exchanges let you download your transaction history: do it every year and keep the file, because a service can close or change its terms.

The log is also what proves your losses, which the second module covers in detail. A loss can only be carried forward if it was reported, and reporting it means being able to compute it accurately, trade by trade, with dates and euro values that can be checked.

The rates from 2026: 33% and 26%

The 2025 Budget Law, Law No. 207 of 30 December 2024, changed the rate. Paragraph 24 of its Article 1 provides that gains and other proceeds under letter (c-sexies) realised from 1 January 2026 bear the substitute tax at 33 per cent.

Until 31 December 2025 the rate was 26%, the same as for shares and bonds. The section RT instructions for 2025 income confirm it: the crypto part takes gains realised by that date, on which the substitute tax is due at 26 per cent.

Paragraph 24 carves out one exception. Income from holding, selling or using euro-denominated e-money tokens stays at 26%. These are tokens whose value is firmly pegged to the euro and whose reserves are held entirely in euro assets with authorised entities in the European Union.

For these tokens the law adds a useful clarification: merely converting between euros and euro-denominated e-money tokens, or redeeming them at face value, does not realise a gain or a loss. Moving in and out of such tokens at par creates no income.

In the consolidated text published by the Gazzetta Ufficiale, the next version of paragraph 24 shows it struck out by Decree 117/2026, dated 19 June, within a reform of income taxation meant to apply from 2027. For income realised in 2026, the text described here still governs.

The end of the 2,000 euro allowance

In the first version of letter (c-sexies), gains were only taxable if they reached at least 2,000 euros in total over the tax year. Paragraph 25 of Article 1 of Law 207/2024 struck out those words, together with the matching threshold in Article 68(9-bis).

The section RT instructions describe the switch. Gains realised up to 31 December 2024 are taxed on the part above the 2,000 euro threshold for the year, while gains realised from 1 January 2025 are taxed with no minimum. Today the very first euro of profit is taxable.

Anyone who made many small trades in 2025 and 2026, believing they stayed under the allowance, now has to rebuild every one of them. Even a gain of a few tens of euros must be computed and, unless an intermediary has taxed it, reported.