Exemption for tokens and mining from rulings
Italy has confirmed that both crypto utility tokens and mining are exempt from VAT. This follows EU VAT Committee crypto asset VAT preliminary review.
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In two rulings, the following guidance was issued:
- Currency Mining or Forging is exempt (Risposta n.º 508/2022 from Agenzia delle Entrate) since there is no provision of services to an attributable customer – as required for VAT to be liable.
- Utility Tokens are exempt from VAT at the point of issuance and should not be treated as regular VAT voucher since their purpose can change (Risposta n.º 507/2022 from Agenzia delle Entrate). The case concerns a service creating a blockchain token certifying that a piece of music was original.
On 17 October, a further letter, 515/2022, confirmed mining as exempt from VAT.
At the member state level, confirmation on Belgium Non-Fungible Token VAT and Spain VAT NFT has already been issued.
VAT on cryptocurrencies
| Stage | Examples | VAT Treatment |
| Crypto-assets | Payment, security or utility tokens | Treated as currency |
| Creation of tokens | Mining or forging | Out of scope of VAT |
| Supplies free of charge | Airdrop | Out of scope of VAT |
| Supplies for consideration | Taxable; but exempt | |
| Storage and transfer | Hot or cold digital wallets | Taxable; but exempt |
| Exchange for crypto-assets or cryptocurrencies | Taxable; but exempt | |
| Cryptocurrencies as consideration for supply | Taxable; VAT due | |
| Token modification | Modifications, forks or splitting of tokens | Out of scope of VAT |
