Spanish tax agency hits DeFi investor with €9M ($10.5M) back tax over crypto-backed loan
A Spanish decentralized finance (DeFi) investor was charged about €9 million (roughly $10.5 million) in back taxes after authorities treated a crypto-backed stablecoin loan as a taxable capital gain. According to reports, the investor had already declared crypto activity and paid about $5.84 million in taxes, but three years later the tax agency issued an additional bill tied not to a sale or realized profit but to the act of depositing assets into a DeFi protocol in exchange for a loan. Tax advisers quoted in the coverage said the move treats transfers into lending protocols as realized gains, a classification they argue lacks a legal basis and contradicts Spain’s Personal Income Tax Law, which defines capital gains as requiring an actual economic benefit and a change in net worth.
The case highlights broader tensions in Spain’s crypto enforcement: authorities sent large numbers of warning notices about crypto taxes in recent years and required declaration of foreign crypto holdings by March 2024, and reports say the Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria (AEAT) can access or seize holdings when obligations aren’t met. Critics also point to limited independent recourse, noting the first appeal body for tax disputes — the Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Central (TEAC) — is an administrative tribunal under the finance ministry rather than an independent court, a point raised by the European Court of Justice. The episode underscores unresolved legal questions about how lending and token transfers in DeFi should be taxed in Spain.
