Bill on Cryptocurrency Exchange Passes Committee

A bill to ratify a key international agreement passed an important vote in the parliamentary budget and finance committee. The document, concerning the automatic exchange of information on crypto assets and financial accounts, received support from the majority of the committee members, marking an important stage in the process of its adoption.

The deputies of the committee voted with 15 votes "for", without a single "against" and with 5 "abstentions" during the discussion of the bill. The result underlines the broad support for measures that aim to strengthen transparency in the tax information exchange.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, Galya Dimitrova, presented the bill submitted by the Council of Ministers. It concerns the Multilateral Agreement on CARF and the Addendum to the Multilateral Agreement on CRS.

The two legal acts were signed by the Republic of Bulgaria on November 26, 2024, in Asuncion, Paraguay. The signing took place during a meeting of the 17th Plenary Session of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The hall, according to witnesses, was full of delegates from all over the world, demonstrating interest in the matter.

At the moment, 49 jurisdictions have joined the Multilateral Agreement on CARF, and 52 - the Addendum to the Multilateral Agreement on CRS. This shows the growing international consensus to combat tax evasion and strengthen transparency in the financial sector.

At a meeting of the Council of Ministers, held on November 13, 2024, the Minister of Finance received authorization to sign the declarations of accession of the Republic of Bulgaria to the agreements, subject to subsequent ratification.

The proposed document provides for the introduction of new global rules for the automatic exchange of information regarding crypto assets, as well as additions to the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts. These two projects are interconnected, the aim being to increase tax transparency with regard to crypto assets and electronic money. In addition, the aim is to improve administrative cooperation through the exchange of information between the competent authorities.

Based on the accumulated experience and analysis of the OECD on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), amendments and additions are being made to the existing rules for the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts. The scope of the standard includes electronic money, central bank digital currencies and indirect investments in crypto assets through derivatives and investment instruments. The requirements for complex verification and for providing information are also being strengthened. The rules of the standard are currently regulated in Bulgarian legislation in the Tax and Social Security Procedure Code, the proponents of the bill emphasize.