The Treasury admits it: cryptocurrencies should not be included in the ‘Model 720’

The Ministry of Finance admits that not that you have to include information about cryptocurrencies in the Informative Declaration of Assets Abroad -the controversial Form 720-, after no regulatory development has yet been implemented. Although one of the Ministry’s plans was to include these crypto assets in Model 720, as established by the anti-fraud law approved in June of last year, the Treasury recognizes that it cannot yet demand that it be declared.

The Tax Agency has already confirmed, as it has been able to verify the Economist, that there is no obligation of an informative statement in the Model without the relevant regulatory development on cryptocurrencies. Therefore, there is no need to report cryptocurrencies in the Model 720 of 2021, which is presented in the coming days. “There is no need to declare. There is no information to declare. They are not values ​​​​included, nor is there cryptocurrency data within the value boxes of the Model 720. There is no reasonable exegesis that allows us to understand that cryptocurrencies are declared in this Model,” explains prosecutor Esaú Alarcón, Gibernau’s partner.

In this way, although the anti-fraud law is already in force and establishes this requirement, it will not have to be declared at this time. Neither in taxes nor in the formal or procedural sphere is an obligation applied if there is no regulatory development. “It is necessary, it is essential. A regulation is never so complete as to eliminate a regulatory development,” says Esaú Alarcón.

No changes in personal income tax

In sum, the cryptocurrency statement remains largely unchanged for the time being. In the declaration of Personal Income Tax (IRPF)The Treasury maintains the Model without reforms in this regard and has not created any specific box to insert virtual currencies.

The only change that has occurred, and only formal, is in the Declaration of Wealth Tax (IP). The new Treasury models, published in the BOE last Friday, do include a new specific box in the IP for the declaration of cryptocurrencies. However, the change is not substantial either. Although before there was no specific section for virtual currencies in the tax return, they had to be included in the Other Assets and Rights section.

From now on, what could happen is that during these months start the processing of a regulatory project to include virtual currencies in the declaration of assets abroad. In this eventual case, the Administration could declare that it is obliged to incorporate cryptocurrencies in the declaration.

However, until now there is no regulatory process that affects cryptocurrencies. If there is one in the future, a new term would be given for its presentation and, in no case, would it influence the current one. Model 720 which must be declared this March.

The 2021 Annual Tax and Customs Control Plan required the “obtaining of information from various sources on operations carried out with cryptocurrencies.” In this sense, the Tax Agency foresaw its incorporation into the model of goods and rights abroad.

What’s more, the Aeat prepares the establishment of “an autonomous information obligation” on cryptocurrencies, which several industry experts have dubbed the Model 721although there is still no information on the regulatory development of this tool.

“The rise of virtual asset markets, particularly cryptocurrencies, generates fiscal risks that require specific actions to obtain information that facilitate voluntary compliance with the tax obligations derived from the operations carried out, as well as the control of their correct taxation”, the Treasury justifies its increase in control.

To declare the cryptocurrencies, the Treasury decided to introduce them in the declaration of assets abroad, which the European Court of Justice overturned months later due to its disproportionate fines. The Treasury has already begun to return the penalties for the Declaration of Assets Abroad. The Regional Economic-Administrative Court (TEAR) of Madrid, dependent on the Ministry of Finance, has returned 500,000 euros to a taxpayer who was sanctioned for not submitting the declaration informing about 150,000 euros that he had invested in various accounts and securities abroad, and that came from prescribed periods.

The Plenary of Congress endorsed, without votes against, the new sanctioning regime of the Declaration of Assets Abroad. this movement returns the situation to that of the year 2012, with the only difference that the informative obligation of Form 720 will continue in force. The situation of the specific formal sanctions for goods abroad and the specific unjustified profit, with the 150% sanction, disappear.