Topic: Japan ends 8% consumption tax on bitcoin Today (Read 2137 times)

8% is not small.  It is huge especially if the investor is dealing with billions worth of money.  I agree this is a great boost to bitcoin community in Japan.  I believe that this tax free consumption means you are free of tax even if we use or open the item in Japan as long as it is bought in Bitcoins.  Now I know why there is some price uptrend of bitcoin this week and it is due to the implementation of removing the 8% consumption tax on Bitcoin.

That's not that bad actually. I mean it's a little strange but hey it's way better than any other country out there so can't complain! When will we have clear rules like this in Canada!? Come on Trudeau!

No matter how small, its still a boost imagine what relief this would bring to someone who wants to cash out bitcoin after he had paid fees to the miners, then wait for longer time for it to confirm, only to now pay another  whopping 8% on the same cashing out now this is no longer applicable, then I tell you its a good relief for the Japanese people and the signalling effect might eventually roll over in due time.

 To be clear, you don't get the tax exemption simply because you are using Bitcoin.  You must be a foreigner and present your passport and they will waive the 8% consumption tax on the goods you purchase.  You can pay with any method they accept (including Bitcoin) and still save the tax.  There is a caveat; you must not open the item or use the item during your stay or you will be required to pay the tax.

Conditions for tax exemption

• *You must not consume the purchased items in Japan.
• *You alone are allowed to consume the purchased items.
• *You must take the purchased items out of Japan when you depart.

 How do they enforce this? I don't know.

 Most countries will refund any consumption tax or VAT you pay during your stay as a visitor on items you bring home unopened/unused.  This is nothing new.  The fact is that Japan has made it much easier for tourists by allowing them to make their purchases tax-free at the cash register rather than requesting a refund at the airport on their way home.

here is another picture then, just to make you more "interesting"

this is the Electronics Retailer called Bic that is accepting bitcoin with the banner saying tax free corner!

i am interesting with this picture and i only can imagine that in future, we can see this image is become real and we can see many local store accepting bitcoin to buy something. its a good news that if in japan have applied this to accepting bitcoin and it makes us easy to buy something with our bitcoin. if this news is spread into many places then i am sure that people will know about bitcoin and i am sure that they are interesting too to used bitcoin.

I agree to the point that everything has to start from somewhere. Bitcoin community isn't that big in comparison to the world population as for now maybe just 0.1% of world population (approx 7 million) or less. Japan has a population of more than 125 million. As bitcoin is becoming mainstream there, users are likely to double even if 5% people from Japan get into it. This is indeed a good sign.

Another reason why bitcoins price is going to boost again. This is a very good news for us.

Expect after the Segwit price will soar high again and that's going to make the price higher.

I'm a bit curious on what will be the next country to do the same thing.

Correct, I would like to use my bitcoin everywhere and that everyone accept it bitcoin as payment, but in order to get to that utopia we need to begin small, some business owners will have to begin to accept bitcoin even if no one is buying with it, we as consumers need to get used to the idea that we will not be able to use it everywhere any time soon, but after some time we will get to the point that bitcoin will raise in the awareness of the people and begin to be accepted in more places.

Japan officially removes taxes from purchase and sale of Bitcoin
1:05 PM
bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, currency, japan, medium of exchange, money, taxes
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On July 1, a new law went into effect which removes all taxation from the buying and selling of Bitcoin in the nation of Japan.  And with their already having recognized the cryptocurrency as a viable medium of exchange within their monetary system, the world's third largest economy has moved another step closer to recognizing Bitcoin as a legitimate currency.


Japan’s tax reform bill which officially eliminated consumption tax on the sale of Bitcoin came into effect on July 1. Bitcoin trading activities are expected to rise in Japan following the activation of the bill.
In a report entitled “Japan: Inbound Tax Alert, 2017 Tax Reform Proposals,” Deloitte previously revealed that virtual currencies including Bitcoin were set to be exempt from the eight percent consumption tax in Japan.
Deloitte’s report read:
“The supply of virtual currency will be exempt from Japanese Consumption Tax (“JCT”). Currently, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin do not fall under the category of exempt sales, and as a result, the sale of virtual currencies in Japan have been treated as taxable for JCT purposes. Following the enactment of the amended Fund Settlement Law in May 2016, which newly defined “virtual currency” as a means of settlement, the sale of virtual currency as defined under the new Fund Settlement Law will be exempt from JCT. This change will apply to sales/purchase transactions performed in Japan on or after 1 July 2017.” - Coin Telegraph

http://www.thedailyeconomist.com/2017/07/japanese-officially-removes-taxes-from.html

It's a big percentage from the taxation of the government. 8% is something that's going to make people shift to bitcoin just for them to be not involved on taxation anymore. This move I guess is making Japan people convert their financial to bitcoin or they want to boost their economy with the use of bitcoin.

Every breaking point in human history began with one small step. This is also the case we have to start somewhere and Japan made his move. Good is that they started more and more to accept this and more are using this to. Think that we will see major improvement in next month thin that this is still testing for bitcoin acceptance in Japan.

Even if that was the case and most business owners began accepting bitcoin as a novelty, that is the way many things begin, at first people did not know what use they will give to computers, but still many bought them, and then a market for new software and computer related products began to appear, so I think it is good news even if there is not a lot of transactions taking place at the moment.

And look what happened   Those who were bullish for monday were 100% right about the impact it will have and the pump it will start.
I hope you guys stacked up during the weekend.
It's nice they removed the tax. It was putting the average Japanese user at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the world, where there are no such taxes and additional 8% on top of all the exchange and transfer fees is really a lot.

And, even Visa/Mastercard don't have this type of advertising :

i don't know about point-of-sale but a fast google search can bring up a lot of news about Japanese merchants adopting bitcoin. and with the removal of taxes on bitcoin payments they now have the incentive to make sure about doing it.

Really? As in point-of-sale payments? Sounds promising, got any sources on that?

Yeah, i think that 8% tax was probably never paid that much anyways just like bitcoin tax return forms in the USA

I'd actually argue the opposite of what you just said though - this law is going to have the most effect short term because of the hype generated from it and probably less affect as time passes and people realise governments can't really tax p2p trades in the first place. Just ask people in china, when exchanges were tight with AML laws they just switched to P2P altogether.

But this doesn't mean that i disagree with this law. In fact i love it, and i think it's regulated businesses that are going to benefit the most.

I also heard several Japanese exchanges are going to be more actively involved in the payment process.

Oh definitely. Let's not forget the added legal clarity. I don't think we'll see much of a difference short term, but long term this definitely makes for a much more attractive investment.