Jean Galea

Cryptocurrencies as an asset class are a very new thing in general, having only existed for a few years. Governments around the world are still learning about them and subsequently enacting regulations and laws governing them.

One big question that many cryptocurrency investors are sure to have is this: How will my cryptocurrency holdings be taxed?

The general principle that many countries seem to be moving towards is that of treating cryptocurrencies as “intangible property.” Investors and traders holding cryptocurrency as a capital asset should, therefore, use capital gain or loss tax treatment on sales and exchanges, with the realization method. For example, if you buy Bitcoins with U.S. dollars and later sell them for U.S. dollars, a capital gain or loss needs to be reported on that transaction.

This means that using Bitcoin and other cryptos for payments makes it a huge hassle to deal with come tax time. Whenever you use Bitcoin to buy something online or offline, you are essentially making a trade. It doesn’t matter whether you receive fiat currencies in return or goods and services. If you bought 1 Bitcoin at $100 and then you used that same Bitcoin to buy a car when the value of Bitcoin was $2500, you will need to declare a gain of $2400 to your government. This might not seem too bad, but consider if you are using Bitcoin for daily transactions like groceries, Amazon purchases etc. By the end of the year, you might have hundreds or thousands of small purchases, and you will need to calculate the gain or loss on each of those “trades”.

Here are some links to countries that have taken an official stand on the classification and taxation of cryptocurrencies:

United States of America

• Read: IRS Notice 2014-21

The IRS guidance considers bitcoin as property and not a currency.

That’s good news for taxpayers with huge gains on using, investing or trading bitcoin. Since it receives capital gains treatment, if they held it over one year, the lower long-term capital gains tax rate applies.

Conversely, it’s bad news for those with large losses. According to the IRS guidance, bitcoin does not receive Section 988 ordinary loss treatment, which is unlimited; instead, it’s capital-loss treatment is limited to $3,000 per year.

The IRS guidance stresses a point — widely overlooked by many taxpayers — that using bitcoin to purchase an item or service triggers capital gain or loss recognition reflecting appreciation or depreciation of bitcoin. Compare the market price on the date bitcoin is used to make a purchase vs. the market price on the date you acquired that bitcoin, and the difference is a capital gain or loss on property.

United Kingdom

• Read: Brief 9 (2014)

n its formal Revenue & Customs Brief, published on Monday, the HMRC pointed out that for VAT purposes bitcoin and other digital currencies will be treated as follows.

1. Income received from bitcoin mining activities will generally be outside the scope of VAT. This is due to the fact that mining does not constitute an economic activity for VAT purposes, as there is an insufficient link between any services provided and any consideration received.
2. Income received by miners for other activities, such as for the provision of services in connection with the verification of specific transactions for which specific charges are made, will be exempt from VAT under Article 135(1)(d) of the EU VAT Directive as falling within the definition of ‘transactions, including negotiation, concerning deposit and current accounts, payments, transfers, debts, cheques and other negotiable instruments.’
3. When bitcoin is exchanged for Sterling or for foreign currencies, such as Euros or Dollars, no VAT will be due on the value of the bitcoins themselves.
4. Charges (in whatever form) made over and above the value of the Bitcoin for arranging or carrying out any transactions in Bitcoin will be exempt from VAT under Article 135(1)(d) as outlined at 2 above.

With VAT out of the way, the HMRC turned to Corporation Tax, Income Tax and Capital gains Tax. It is important to note that there is no clear rule that applies to all activities and organisations. The brief explains:

“Each case will be considered on the basis of its own individual facts and circumstances. The relevant legislation and case law will be applied to determine the correct tax treatment. Therefore, depending on the facts, a transaction may be so highly speculative that it is not taxable or any losses relievable.”

Businesses which accept payment in bitcoins will see no change in the way revenue is recognised and how taxable profits are calculated:

• Corporation Tax: The profits or losses on exchange movements between currencies are taxable. For the tax treatment of virtual currencies, the general rules on foreign exchange and loan relationships apply. We have not at this stage identified any need to consider bespoke rules.
• For companies, exchange movements are determined between the company’s functional currency (usually the currency in which the accounts are prepared) and the other currency in question. If there is an exchange rate between Bitcoin and the functional currency then this analysis applies. Therefore no special tax rules for Bitcoin transactions are required. The profits and losses of a company entering into transactions involving Bitcoin would be reflected in accounts and taxable under normal Corporation Tax rules.
• Income Tax: The profits and losses of a non-incorporated business on Bitcoin transactions must be reflected in their accounts and will be taxable on normal income tax rules.
• Chargeable gains – Corporation Tax and Capital Gains Tax: If a profit or loss on a currency contract is not within trading profits or otherwise within the loan relationship rules, it would normally be taxable as a chargeable gain or allowable as a loss for Corporation Tax or Capital Gains Tax purposes. Gains and losses incurred on Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are chargeable or allowable for Capital Gains Tax if they accrue to an individual or, for Corporation Tax on chargeable gains if they accrue to a company.

Spain

There is no VAT applicable on Bitcoin transactions.

Trading in cryptocurrencies is considered in the same way as forex trading or binary options. The same principles will apply come tax time. The savings tax rates are applied (on a scale between 19% and 23%).

As for wealth tax, cryptocurrencies have to be declared as you would declare any other asset that you own.

Germany

Bitcoin transactions in Germany have been made exempt from capital gains tax after one year. In Germany, assets such as stocks and bonds are subject to a 25% capital gains tax (plus a solidarity surcharge) and a state-dependant church tax. With the new decision, bitcoins having been held for more than a year will not be subject to these charges.

According to German news site Die Welt, financial expert Frank Schaeffler stated: “It is good that investment in bitcoins is finally [a] legal certainty. Private profits from the sale of bitcoins are tax-free after one year”.

It is also worth noting that the German capital gains tax does not apply to mining bitcoins. It only applies to stocks, bonds, etc, that have been purchased with the intention of market speculation. Since mining bitcoins is essentially creating value, normal income tax would be applied.

General Good Practice

Here are some good tips on how you should go about investing in cryptocurrencies from a tax perspective:

• Keep records of all your cryptocurrency activity.
• Periodically download your trading history from any exchanges you use.
• Export transaction logs from any wallets you have.
• Ensure you have records for each time you spend any cryptocurrencies.

Further Reading

The BitcoinTaxes FAQ, common questions and blog are among the best resources that deal directly with this topic. Most of the information is US-centered but a lot of it is also applicable to other countries.

The British Pound is going through tough times lately, and that makes it a great buy for investing purposes. What I would recommend is that you buy GBP now and then invest them in GBP-denominated real estate, such as the properties you can find on Property Moose, my preferred real estate investment platform.

For transferring Euros or your own country’s currency to GBP you should use Transferwise, by far my preferred service for converting money from one currency to another.

The aim of this long-term investment would be to make money from your properties, but also get a good likelihood of a return on your currency conversion when you withdraw back to your currency in the future.

Keeping track of your cryptocurrency investments is essential. Cryptos are highly volatile and you absolutely need to keep an eye on them to make sure you don’t make big losses if a currency goes south. Moreover, keeping track of your gains and losses is important when tax time comes around, as you’ll have to declare any profits or losses on your cryptocurrencies if you have sold any of them.

Here are the two tools I recommend.

Cryptocompare Portfolio tool

This Cryptocompare portfolio a web-based tool which is very easy to use and has some additional features that are useful for those who want to dig a bit deeper in analysing the performance of their portfolio. Some of the features will be part of their premium plan in the future, but the basic features will remain free.

Using a Google Sheet

Google Sheets are useful for many use cases, and they really shine in this use case of tracking your cryptocurrency portfolio. With Google Sheets we can have dynamically updated fields/cells, so we can use those to get the current price of each cryptocurrency from an API (such as cryptocompare.com itself).

Rather than have you create the sheet yourself, I suggest you make a copy of this ready-made cryptocurrency portfolio sheet and customize it as you wish.

Last week I was following a discussion in Malta’s Bitcoin group on Facebook. The main point being discussed was whether Bitcoin is one huge bubble similar to the Tulip mania craze in the 17th century Netherlands. Given the articles we see in the media, this is a valid question to pose. One commenter, Jonathan Galea, left a comment that I thought was very well written and worth sharing on my blog, with his permission of course.

Here’s the comment from the Bitcoin Malta group.

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FACT: the tulip bubble centred on a product which has no inherent value apart from being a plant. The right cryptocurrencies have inherent value which solve real-world problems.

FACT: therefore, the “crypto-bubble” should be likened to the dotcom bubble and not the tulip bubble. That’s your first mistake

FACT: the dotcom bubble peaked at 3 TRILLION dollars. Trillion with a T. The current total crypto market is worth $110 billion, with a small b. You can do the maths. Keep in mind that the dotcom bubble was reached at a time when social media and global connections were not the norm… and inflation has had its way since then too.

FACT: the institutional investors haven’t entered the playground yet. What you’re seeing are just BTC whales trapped in the crypto-ecosystem since there’s no regulation in place through which they can legitimately cash out their earnings. Either that, or they know that the bubble has not yet formed and there’s plenty of money to be made. Either way, they have purchasing power worth millions. A small BTC whale can easily invest 800 BTC.

FACT: Buying altcoins for normal people is still a laborious process. The people I’ve had to explain it to are normally-versed in tech and they still found it difficult without guidance. Until and unless crypto investments are easily accessible as least to the tech-savvy, then one can’t talk about a bubble yet. Once ETFs come into play, then we’ll see signs of a bubble forming.

FACT: 2018 will be the year when crypto-projects start coming into fruition and offering versions of their product to widespread use. Those who don’t deliver will die, the others will grow… fast.

FACT: At the height of the dotcom bubble, the average person on the street was talking about it. I dare you to randomly find at least 5 people out of 10 who can give you a satisfactory definition of Bitcoin if you were to conduct a survey in Valletta. It’s still nowhere near being mainstream; and if Bitcoin isn’t, let along the hundreds of other altcoins out there which are even more promising that Bitcoin.

FACT: Mainstream media were screaming bubble back in 2013 when BTC’s price hit $1200. It screamed it again when BTC’s price hit $1300 at the start of this year. Are you starting to see a pattern?

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What do you think about this comparison?