The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, has called on member states to fully implement the new tax transparency and information exchange rules on crypto-assets, saying it will send formal notices to 12 countries for failing to do so, which came into force on January 1.
Meanwhile, in a separate notice, the Commission requested a response from Hungary on its failure to comply with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, after the country passed an amendment for an “exchange validation services” authorization regime not supported by the bloc’s landmark crypto regulation.
The tax fail 12
In its “January infringements package,” published January 30, the Commission announced that Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal would all be receiving letters of formal notice “for failing to fully transpose” the EU’s tax rule, known as ‘Directive (EU) 2023/2226.’
The directive amended existing EU tax rules “to enable tax transparency and information exchange regarding crypto-assets and to enhance the information exchanges regarding financial accounts.”
It provides for the automatic exchange of information on “crypto assets” between EU countries, requiring crypto asset service providers (CASPs) operating in the bloc to report detailed user and transaction data to the national tax authorities by July 1, 2026. These authorities must then “exchange that information with the EU country of residence of the taxpayer/investor on an annual basis.”
The new tax rules are based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a global tax transparency initiative introduced in June 2023 to set a standard for tax reporting and improve the exchange of information between countries on digital asset transactions, to combat tax evasion and avoidance.
The directive was adopted by the bloc on October 17, 2023, and all 27 EU countries had until December 31, 2025 to transpose it, with the rule officially taking effect on January 1, 2026.
“The timely and full implementation of the rules of the Directive by all Member States is key to achieving greater tax transparency and combating tax avoidance and evasion in investment income,” said the Commission.
It added that the named countries now have two months to respond, complete their transposition and notify the Commission, with the EU body warning that, “in the absence of a satisfactory response,” it may decide to issue a “reasoned opinion”—the next stage in the infringement process, sent when the Commission is not satisfied with a country’s response. Failure to respond to a “reasoned opinion” can result in a referral to the Court of Justice of the EU.
The tax directive was far from the only subject of the Commission’s January infringements package, with notices ranging from environment, migration and jobs, to justice, internal markets and the MiCA regulation. The latter of these was the subject of a strongly worded letter to Hungary.
Hungary must comply with MiCA
In another crypto-related highlight of January’s infringement package, the Commission said it had sent a letter of formal notice to Hungary for failing to fully comply with MiCA.
The move follows Hungary’s recent adoption of “Act LXVII of 2025,” which amended the Hungarian Crypto Act (Act VII of 2024) to introduce a new authorization regime for “exchange validation services” with criminal liability, which is not provided under MiCA.
After the passage of MiCA in 2023, each EU member state was required to pass domestic regulation to bring itself into compliance with the EU-wide MiCA framework. For Hungary, this was done through Act VII of 2024. However, the subsequent passage of Act LXVII of 2025 extended Hungary’s crypto-asset regime beyond the bounds of MiCA.
According to the Commission, this has reportedly led some CASPs to suspend or discontinue certain services, prejudicing clients and creating legal uncertainty.
“While Hungary aims to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML/CFT) safeguards, such measures must remain compatible with MiCA,” read the infringement notice. “The Commission is therefore sending a letter of formal notice to Hungary, which now has two months to respond and address the Commission’s concerns.”
The Commission added that “MiCA is a key element of the EU’s Digital Finance strategy, establishing a uniform and directly applicable framework to ensure legal certainty, consumer and investor protection, financial stability, and the smooth functioning of the single market for crypto-assets.”
Similarly to the tax directive infringement notice, the Commission said that if Hungary fails to respond appropriately to its letter, it may decide to issue a ‘reasoned opinion.’
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Source: https://coingeek.com/eu-commission-turns-up-heat-on-crypto-compliance-gaps/
