Latvia has approved a new way to calculate tax on crypto investments, but it has not yet launched a way to pay tax bills with cryptocurrency. Parliament passed amendments to the personal income tax law on October 15 that extend the investment-account model to digital assets. Separately, a government adviser told CoinDesk on October 18 that crypto tax payments could become possible in 2027. The enacted legislative change and the proposed payment channel are distinct developments.

Under the investment-account model described by the Saeima, tax would be due when withdrawals from a qualifying account exceed the amount paid into it, instead of being assessed on each individual transaction inside the account. Crypto-asset service providers licensed in the European Union could offer such accounts. The government still has to issue implementing rules for providers by December 30, 2026, according to parliament's announcement. That leaves operational details to be settled before the regime can be used.

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A declaration window with a defined tax base

The amendments also create a one-time route for residents to declare crypto assets held on December 31, 2026. The official announcement says eligible holdings may be in accounts with EU-licensed crypto service providers or in addresses controlled by the holder. A 10% tax would apply to the assets' market value on that year-end date. The declared value would then become their acquisition value for later tax calculations. This is a tax on the stated value under the special declaration mechanism, not a general 10% rate on every future crypto gain.

The declaration period is scheduled for April 1 through May 31, 2027, with one correction allowed until June 30 and payment due by July 23. Parliament says people who declare and pay would be treated as having met earlier income-reporting and tax obligations concerning those assets and the income used to acquire or exchange them through the end of 2026. The option would not be open to people already facing specified criminal, tax-audit, tax-control or administrative proceedings connected with crypto income.

Crypto tax payments are still prospective

The idea of settling the resulting tax bill in crypto is at a less advanced stage. Didzis Dejus, an adviser to the prime minister, told CoinDesk at a Riga fintech conference that he believed such payments would be available next year. He said the Finance Ministry had agreed to the plan, while technical work with a payment provider remained. CoinDesk said the ministry had not responded to its request for comment by publication time. Neither the provider nor eligible cryptocurrencies were named.

That means a taxpayer should not read the payment remarks as a live service or as a provision of the October 15 tax amendments. A government would also need to explain how crypto is valued and converted when a tax liability is denominated in euros; no confirmed Latvian implementation detail on those points was available in the cited reporting. The schedule could be affected by government formation after the October parliamentary election, according to CoinDesk.

Why the distinction matters

For investors, the account approach could simplify record-keeping for transactions that remain within a qualifying account, while the declaration window offers a time-limited path for older holdings whose original cost records may be incomplete. It does not remove the need to identify eligible accounts, assets and personal circumstances. For EU-licensed service providers, the next practical milestone is the implementing rulebook, not an immediate universal tax-payment integration.

Latvia's move therefore has two different clocks: passed tax legislation with prescribed 2027 declaration dates, and a possible crypto-payment option that remains contingent on technology and policy follow-through. The public documents establish the former. The latter is, for now, an expectation expressed by an adviser rather than a confirmed government launch.

Sources

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