Country guide
Portugal for nomads: crypto tax and the 183-day rule
By DmytroLast checked
- Currency
- EUR
- Crypto tax
- Held 365+ days: tax-free; shorter: 28%
- Tax residence test
- Over 183 days in 12 months, or a habitual home
- Remote-work stay
- Remote-work (“digital nomad”) stay or residency visa
Short answer
Portugal uses the euro and the EU-wide MiCA rules, so a euro or low-FX card covers most spending. Crypto you held for 365 days or more is excluded from tax when you sell it, shorter-held gains are taxed at 28%, and you become tax resident after more than 183 days in a 12-month period or once you keep a home there as your habitual residence.
Crypto card availability
Banco de Portugal publishes consumer guidance on crypto-assets and their risks.
Banks and cards
Opening a Portuguese account involves identity, tax-number (NIF) and address checks, and providers can ask long-stay customers for residence documents. As a visitor, start with your existing international accounts.
If you work from Portugal, keep client income records separate from travel spending.
Crypto rules
The 365-day exclusion covers crypto that is not a security; excluded gains still go on Annex G1 of your return, and time held before 1 January 2023 counts. The 28% is an autonomous rate, and you can opt instead to add the gains to your other income.
Swapping one crypto-asset for another is not taxed at that moment; tax applies when you dispose of it for money or goods, and the oldest units count as sold first (FIFO). The 365-day exclusion and the swap rule cover transactions with counterparties resident in the EU, the EEA or a country that has a tax treaty or information-exchange agreement with Portugal.
Ending your Portuguese tax residence counts as a disposal of the crypto you still hold, taxed as a capital gain.
Tax and residency
Under Article 16 the day count covers any 12-month period that starts or ends in the tax year, and the home test asks for a home that shows the intention to keep and occupy it as your habitual residence, so fewer days can be enough. Treaties settle dual residence.
Non-EU remote workers can apply for the temporary-stay visa or the residency visa for a professional activity done remotely (“digital nomads”), both listed on the foreign ministry’s visa portal.
Checklist
- Check your card’s euro spending terms and ATM costs.
- Write down when you bought each crypto lot.
- Count days in rolling 12-month periods, and note the date you take on a long-term home.
- Before you leave Portugal for good, value the crypto you hold on the date your residence ends.
Sources
- Crypto-assets – what are they? — Banco de Portugal
- Crypto-assets: how the EU is regulating markets — Council of the European Union
- Questões frequentes: IRS – Relações Internacionais – Rendimentos no Estrangeiro — Portugal Tax and Customs Authority
- Criptoativos: conceito fiscal e tributação — Portugal Tax and Customs Authority
- Type of Visa — Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Tax, visa and residence rules depend on your situation, so confirm them with the official authority. How we compare