Latvia's parliament passed legislation on Oct. 15 that taxes crypto withdrawals in excess of deposits rather than individual trades, and the government now plans to let residents settle personal taxes in cryptocurrency as early as next year, according to Didzis Dejus, an adviser to the prime minister on strategic planning and the new economy.

The Finance Ministry has agreed to the payment plan, though technical integration with an unnamed payment provider remains unfinished. Dejus put the timeline bluntly. Asked at the UN:BLOCK Fintech conference in Riga whether Latvians would be able to pay taxes in crypto during the prime minister's term, he said: "I believe that will take place next year."

CoinDesk reports that it reached out to the Finance Ministry for comment without receiving a response by publication.

What does the new tax law change?

The Oct. 15 legislation restructures how crypto gains are measured. Instead of taxing every disposal or swap, the state taxes the point at which withdrawals from a crypto investment account exceed the amount deposited. For active traders, this removes the bookkeeping burden of tracking cost basis across dozens or hundreds of trades per year.

The law also creates a one-time declaration mechanism. Holders can clear past tax obligations by paying 10% of the market value of their declared assets at the end of 2026. Declarations can be filed from April 1 to May 31, 2027, with tax due by July 23. Dejus said the measure targets a specific population: people who bought crypto years ago and lack records proving what they originally paid.

What does this change for practitioners? Latvian residents with pre-exchange-era holdings gain a defined amnesty path with a hard deadline, and portfolio managers gain a simpler accounting model keyed to net cash-out rather than per-transaction gain.

A positioning play, not just a tax fix

The payment initiative builds on plans announced in May 2025 to enable crypto tax payments and the tokenization of assets such as real estate. Dejus framed the broader agenda as competitive positioning. "We are not afraid to be the fastest country," he said, describing efforts to attract crypto business beyond licensing alone.

The strategy targets firms and investors weighing Baltic or EU jurisdictions, pairing a lighter operational tax regime with state infrastructure that accepts crypto at the payment layer. Latvia would not be the first mover in this respect: Colorado began accepting crypto tax payments through PayPal in 2022, with funds converted into dollars before settlement.

Two operational questions remain open. Dejus did not name the payment provider, and he did not specify which cryptocurrencies would qualify for tax settlement.

Political timing

The payment plan's schedule could hinge on coalition formation. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs' United List won the Oct. 3 parliamentary election and is expected to be renominated, but still needs coalition partners to govern. A new cabinet could slow or reorder the technical rollout.

For firms watching the jurisdiction, the actionable dates are already fixed in statute: the end-of-2026 valuation snapshot for the one-time declaration, the April 1 to May 31, 2027 filing window, and the July 23, 2027 payment deadline. Crypto-enabled tax settlement, by contrast, waits on a payment integration and a government.