Belarus Extends Tax-free Incentives for Crypto Firms Until 2025

Belarus has taken further steps to attract crypto businesses by extending tax exemptions for token miners and developers until 2025. President Aleksander Lukashenko signed a decree this week allowing miners and other crypto business operators to conduct business in the country without having to pay value-added tax, income tax, or personal income tax.

The new decree supersedes a previous one that provided tax relief for crypto firms and their staff until the end of 2023. Companies engaged in the “mining, creation, acquisition, and disposal” of coins for “Belarusian rubles, foreign currency, electronic money and/or through the exchange of other tokens” will benefit from the exemption.

Furthermore, the law states that cryptocurrency mining and trading “by natural persons” are not considered a form of business activity. Consequently, transactions involving coins do not even have to be declared.

The Belarusian government first targeted crypto firms in 2017 by creating a special zone in Minsk called the High-Tech Park, designed to house crypto mining companies. In 2018, the government introduced a range of measures aimed at attracting overseas crypto firms to the country.

The decree also mandates the High-Tech Park management team to “create a concept” for the “development of the token sphere — including taxation issues.” Lukashenko expects this concept report to be submitted by July 1, 2024, leaving the possibility for another extension open.