Topic: Responses by German ministry of finance concerning Bitcoin and VAT (fulltext) - page 2. (Read 3983 times)
August 24, 2013, 11:32:28 AM
if i am not mistaken this means that they are saying that the miner who sells a mined bitcoin is responsible for collecting vat, similar to how an airline would include vat when selling airline miles points, but it is hard to tell with the translation
August 19, 2013, 05:37:46 AM
Hey everybody, here are the official statements in German. I took the liberty to translate the letter concerning VAT. The other ist about taxation of earnings by speculation. Particularly the question on how one is to proof that one has owned sold coins for at least a year so the tax is waived. Feel free to translate the latter one. Please note that I am neither a native English-speaker nor a lawyer.
Originals: http://db.tt/5wt8h8zc
Translation of letter "... Bitcoins Umsatzsteuer ... " (meaning "Bitcoins VAT"):
Dear Colleague, Regarding your question: “Do you agree with the BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) that Bitcoins are “units of account” and as such legally equal to foreign currency implying that trading with bitcoin is excluded from VAT?” I answer the following: “Bitcoins” are neither e-Money nor official legal currency and as such not foreign currency. Anyhow they fall under the term “units of account” by [some paragraph from the law]. Units of account are comparable to foreign currencies but not denominated in foreign currencies. Examples for this are values that fulfill the purpose of private units of account in circles of trade / exchange [not sure about the correct translation here] as well as any other “private money” or complementary money, that can be used as a means of payment in multilateral circles of accounting [again not too sure] on the basis of civil law. Following [yet another paragraph] is revenue from trading with official [legal] currencies excluded from VAT. Legal currencies are bills and coins that are by the laws of any internationally recognized state intended and used in monetary transactions to fulfill money debt. [paragraph that excludes FIAT money from VAT] does not only cover the German currency, but also all foreign currencies that are legal currency in the country of origin; this is the case even if this currency is not usable (without exchanging) as a means of payment in Germany. The above implies that the exclusion from VAT by [paragraph] for revenue of “bitcoins”, that merely come to existence as an act of private money creation is not applicable. Yours sincerely Hartmut Koschyk
Long story short: When selling bitcoins as a business model you have to pay VAT for any transaction. The other letter is not as important but I will translate it later.
Cheers
Levino
Originals: http://db.tt/5wt8h8zc
Translation of letter "... Bitcoins Umsatzsteuer ... " (meaning "Bitcoins VAT"):
Dear Colleague, Regarding your question: “Do you agree with the BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) that Bitcoins are “units of account” and as such legally equal to foreign currency implying that trading with bitcoin is excluded from VAT?” I answer the following: “Bitcoins” are neither e-Money nor official legal currency and as such not foreign currency. Anyhow they fall under the term “units of account” by [some paragraph from the law]. Units of account are comparable to foreign currencies but not denominated in foreign currencies. Examples for this are values that fulfill the purpose of private units of account in circles of trade / exchange [not sure about the correct translation here] as well as any other “private money” or complementary money, that can be used as a means of payment in multilateral circles of accounting [again not too sure] on the basis of civil law. Following [yet another paragraph] is revenue from trading with official [legal] currencies excluded from VAT. Legal currencies are bills and coins that are by the laws of any internationally recognized state intended and used in monetary transactions to fulfill money debt. [paragraph that excludes FIAT money from VAT] does not only cover the German currency, but also all foreign currencies that are legal currency in the country of origin; this is the case even if this currency is not usable (without exchanging) as a means of payment in Germany. The above implies that the exclusion from VAT by [paragraph] for revenue of “bitcoins”, that merely come to existence as an act of private money creation is not applicable. Yours sincerely Hartmut Koschyk
Long story short: When selling bitcoins as a business model you have to pay VAT for any transaction. The other letter is not as important but I will translate it later.
Cheers
Levino
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