Topic: Accepting Bitcoin for paying tax (Read 248 times)

What is there to think about? Isn’t this what all BTC-enthusiasts dreamed of, that with the help of bitcoin they could pay their expenses. In principle, invoices from the municipality are exactly the same invoices.

Considering that bitcoin was designed as a digital electronic payment system, it is probably good for the ecosystem when bitcoin can perform its functions directly. That is, to be a means of payment.

More likely yes than no.

It’s possible to imagine this, but I don’t think that at least any company can now exist completely separate from traditional money. But having a choice of how companies could pay their tax obligations (using traditional money or crypto) would already look much more favorable for economic development. In my opinion, crypto companies should have priority on being able to pay taxes using cryptocurrencies. But governments have their own opinions on this matter.

I understand your point of view, this is something I also thought about.

However I believe that if you are a experienced Bitcoin user and with good practice like you said. You can find a way to not let them know.

But of course, it could be just an illusion, and that they're trying every means possible to tax you and report any activity they might find suspicious.

If I have bitcoin and my government accepts bitcoin as a tax payment method, I will still not use my bitcoins to pay tax.

Because if I am not careful, I will break my privacy to tax governmental agency. With Bitcoin, I have my own bank and privacy if I have good practice. Use my bitcoins to pay tax, is one of bad practice, that I will not do.

Asking for taxes to be paid in bitcoin and USDT shows that the government has already accepted cryptocurrency especially bitcoin as an alternative means of payment in the country, and it is legalized. I don't see any big deal there, as long as it is not a compulsory thing, but your choice of payment method.

I cannot pay my tax in such place with bitcoin, when I don't earn in bitcoin. Assuming, I am paid in bitcoin, I don't see it as any problem to me. My bitcoin is very precious to me, so I will rather use it as an investment than giving it to the government.

What about Lightning Network ?

I see, however in Switzerland, you don't pay any taxes if you made profit from selling cryptos.

Lets say you buy Bitcoin at 20k , and decide to sell at 70k. Not a single cents is taxable (article 16 paragraph 3 from the Swiss Direct Federal Tax Act)

Title 2 -  Income tax

Chapter 1 Taxable income

Article 16

Paragraph 3 : "Capital gains realized on the disposal of private assets are not taxable."

Selling is another word for to dispose.

Private assets can be cars, tv, company shares, but also cryptos.

Only way a government can tax your profit you made from selling your cryptos is if your are a independant and you are buying and selling cryptos as a living like a trader for example because the crypto are in this case commercial assets and not private assets anymore.

I actually wrote a post regarding this topic some days back. Personally, i think accepting crypto as means of payment or taxes is a welcome development as this shows more people are beginning to realize the importance of crypto in finance. Although, the success so far is still very minimal and with more countries showing similar support, it will get better over time but we did more people like Gracy Chen who has relentlessly be promoting adoption of web3, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency so as to easily gain widespread recognition beyond what we are currently witnessing

This is neither a good thing not a bad one because it really makes no difference and rather you may end up paying additional transaction fee in Bitcoin if you want to pay tax through Bitcoin which would add up to your expense hence I don't think this is a good news for crypto users in short term but on a longer run if Bitcoin is accepted gradually for mainstream payments and stuffs like all the other government related transaction it will give more confident to people and adoption rate will rapidly increase and it would be a game changer for investor on long term.

Paying taxes in Bitcoin will depend first if the country has adopted Bitcoin or if it's a crypto friendly country, because the matter can not arise in a country that is not Bitcoin friendly. I think that it'll be a good development for the adoption of Bitcoin if more country will accept it as payment for taxes and other state levies, people in such countries will have reasons to own wallet addresses, just like they own their bank accounts. But if people are given a choice to either pay their taxes with fiat currency or Bitcoin, I think that many will prefer to pay in their local currency, because they basically prefer to hudl their Bitcoin.

Bitcoin being used & accepted as a means of payment for any type of goods or service is a good thing. Unfortunately paying taxes is required in most countries. I certainly wouldn’t use Bitcoin to pay income tax but if somebody wants to & the law permits it in that country then no problem.

I can’t think of any positive effect on one’s business if the country accepts Bitcoin as taxes. Uncle Sam could use the data to identify individuals who have bitcoin investments and tax them for capital gains. I wouldn’t want to pay my taxes with Bitcoin or do anything that will allow the government link me to my Bitcoin investments, my country government is a cunning, they can be crypto friendly today and anti crypto the next day.

Let's understand that the legal framework of each country is very different. In any case, I do not see the relevance of an individual paying the fees with bitcoin, if he paying them in the local currency.

On the other hand, international transactions or goods and services that are acquired between countries as payments of these taxes can be interesting, since paying a nationalization tax requires an international agent, a local agent and that of the company involved, so operating costs increase.

A direct payment between those involved would eliminate all the bureaucracy that these old nationalization standards entail in terms of payments; in fact, it could contain the associated documents such as verification certificates and the paperwork that this entails in each transaction.

It is incredible that many processes are so slow and archaic, customs procedures, by land, sea and air, have improved in that they went to digitalization, but they did not leave behind the paperwork and stamps, things improve but they are still very Windows 98...

So, the usefulness of bitcoin as a blockchain goes beyond a simple payment, it has the addition of many things, but we have some " malicious intent," to wanting to take advantage of the network for stupid things. Hey, it's not with you OP, on the contrary, if that happens, fine, I mean things like "Memes."

That is the indication of legalization of cryptocurrency in that particular City or town because if a bitcoin can be accepted as a means of tax payment that means government have accepted the use of cryptocurrency especially Bitcoin in that particular country, so therefore I believe that very soon every country or most of the prominent countries only accept Bitcoin as a legal tender because for it to be the means of payment of a tax that means it has indirectly become a means of legal tender and that particular City or particular nation... I know at what you are discussing here is based on assumption because it has not been officially announced that a particular country has made a bitcoin illegal tender or publicly you can shop with a Bitcoin in the most of a their supermarket or use as exchange of goods and services.

Lugano is the city in Switzerland accepting BTC and cryptocurrencies for payments and transactions. Crypto owners are also expected to pay tax, so whether one owns investment in fiat, any cryptocurrency investment would also be taxed too.
The city of Lugano signed a memorandum of understanding with El Salvador being a country that has adopted cryptocurrency for a long time now.
The peck though is that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies comes with it being regulated by its financial body.

Switzerland is a country that is friendly to crypto, so no surprise to see what the city of Lugano has implemented regarding accepting payment for tax and community fees in Bitcoin and USDT. That being said, i don't know if i'd want to pay my tax in Bitcoin when i can just do that with fiat, IMO, i'd prefer to spend Bitcoin on certain goods/commodities in a store around me or online, rather than paying taxes with it.

That could be another alternative for them, to accept their token or BTC for tax purposes.

Why would they be careful when they have embrace crypto already? It doesn't matter if it is on a bull run or bear market, they are going to pay with their Bitcoin in equivalent fiat so there's nothing wrong with it. Still it they decided to go back to fiat, I don't see that it will cost them a big problem. For sure the government of Switzerland with their centuries of being a safe banking haven, they know what to do with their Bitcoin either in a bull run or a bear market. It's not that Switzerland is a country that will rely solely on Bitcoin as their reserves, they are a very rich nation and they could take all that paying Swiss Bitcoin and just HODL on it without putting pressure on their government.

In a country or city where Bitcoin is legally accepted without any restrictions, such a method can be adopted peacefully, but I Bitcoin is a private asset for investors. In my opinion, it can be quite acceptable for a big company or institutional Bitcoin investor to pay their tax in Bitcoin, but I, as a private investor of Bitcoin, would prefer to pay my tax in fait (local currency) because we all know that when you pay your tax from your wallet, first you will have to reveal your identity to prove that you are the one who has paid, and at the same time, you will also give the government access to track every transaction you are carrying out in your wallet.

In that situation, your privacy is leaked because the government will be watching you. I thought we were not supposed to handle our bitcoin like that. We all know how the government can be sometimes; they could just come up with some new rules overnight that could be so unfavorable for Bitcoin holders.

Switzerland is a first rate country and I believed that they are also one of the pioneers of having a cash less society. So I'm not going to be surprised to see them accepting Bitcoin as payment scheme.

As far as I remember, there was even a company there who wanted to used the excess energy from this food production to mine Bitcoin.

So this news shouldn't be amazed because they are every bit a crypto friendly nation.

the city has its token which is probably the preferred option.

i think they should carefully make rules for accepting cryptocurrencies in paying tax like they will only accept this during bull run and when the bear market starts, they halt the payment and then go back to fiat. resume when the bull run starts again lol because after all the BTC they got will still be turned into fiat the time they receive them.

The cardinal benefit of this policy is that it will increase Bitcoin awareness and adoption. More people will know Bitcoin and some might decide to adopt it as a legal tender or investment platform. The city will also attract more Bitcoin businesses that can boost the economy of the city. The reason why Silicon Valley became famous was because they had the same kind of business clustered in one geographical location. The city of Lugano could make crypto-friendly laws because Switzerland supports crypto. I don't think any state or city can make such a law in my country because it will be against the national cryptocurrency regulatory laws.

That’s definitely why they have actually agreed to accept the payment in bitcoin because a country whose government is stern on bitcoin wouldn’t allow its communities or states pay taxes in bitcoin. My question now is what do they do with the bitcoin, do they hold or they convert it straight up to fiat currency?


Transaction fee is always brought up every time bitcoin been use for payment discussions are made, I will always say this as long as it isn’t compulsory to use just bitcoin for a particular payment that is other currencies are also acceptable I will go for others when it is a small amount of money involved. I will only use bitcoin when it is the easiest of options left to me

It would definitely be a good thing for us investors and bitcoin users because if a country accepts bitcoin as an official payment method for taxes this will add to bitcoin’s credibility and we would be one step closer to having bitcoin fully adapted.

On the other hand, it might not be as good for a city to accept bitcoin. If the country does not still recognize bitcoin as a legal tender then the city would just probably convert it into their local currency which would make accounting their finance more complicated and thus might be in trouble with the government for some regulatory issues.

I think it's a good thing if people can pay their taxes also in crypto currencies. This offers a lot of opportunities for people to start switching to a fully crypto lifestyle. In case you are already being paid in bitcoins than now you can also pay bills and expenses in bitcoins. For the city this also offers opportunities with only creating some small additional financial management. The city can now choose if it wants actively to build a Bitcoin portfolio and stores the coins it receives. If they want any crypto exposure than they can directly exchange it back to fiat money.

I actually sees it as a major plus to the Bitcoin ecosystem, if most states start accepting Bitcoin in tax collection,   because it will definitely bust it popularity among local and by doing so, they are advertising Bitcoin unknowingly to the general masses, which will make it adoption process worldwide very fast.

But the major disadvantage about it is that you might end up paying even more than person paying with the fiat, because after paying your tax with Bitcoin, you will definitely be paying the higher transaction fee attached to it, which will be very much expensive compared to the fiat.

I see nothing different, what's exactly the biggest difference if you pay tax using fiat and Bitcoin? I think you might end up paying 2x tax, first is your income tax and second is capital gains tax.

Technically people need to pay tax if they sold their coins at profit, it doesn't have to wait until Bitcoin can be used for paying tax.

What do you guys think about a city accepting Bitcoin for paying taxes, fines and all other invoices from the municipality.

Is it a bad thing or a good thing for the Bitcoin ecosystem ?

Here's some articles about a city in Switzerland that accepts Bitcoin :

https://bitcoinsuisse.com/news/city-of-lugano-accepts-crypto-payments

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-accepted-taxes-swiss-lugano

https://planb.lugano.ch/

I believe that accepting crypto and especially BITCOIN to pay taxes could be a favorable business framework conditions for crypto companies / investor that are looking for a place to establish their operations.

Additionally, let's imagine a company that decided to go full on crypto (in their treasury) , how are they going to fulfill their taxes obligations ?

Switzerland is also crypto friendly nation so I guess it can depend on the state of a country.