Bitcoin Forum

did i just read that EU made BTC tax free EU-wide ?

http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/10/22/history-made-bitcoin-is-tax-free-in-europe-hits-a-fresh-10-week-high/

Says its considered a currency, so if you exchange it, there is no added taxes. If you have a income in BTC, i doubt it doesn't count as income, especially if you convert it to Euro at any point.

This just means that its not like in Brazil where they pay like 20% tax when BTC get exchanged to US or Reias or anything.

So i would not consider it tax free, unless the country you live decide to also exempt BTC income as taxable income.

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-is-exempt-from-vat-says-european-court-of-justice/

Yup you red it right, but surprisingly enough, bitcoin search in google trends shows little interest of new people to the subject. It just may be that the
the interested parties are already present. See here : http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=bitcoin&date=today%201-m&cmpt=date&tz=Etc%2FGMT-2

People also need to digest the news. Either that, or it indeed doesn't make anyone interested that wasn't already (why trade bitcoin tax free if you don't even want bitcoin?)

It seemed to have a good effect on the price uptrend though! Hope we can keep the momentum going.

Yes, by being VAT-free it means that no extra taxes are incurred for purchases using bitcoin. Keep in mind that goods already have a VAT so you will still be paying that, just no extra tax for having paid with bitcoin. Good news.

Yeah it means that there is no value added tax put upon purchases which is pretty good, good news but not amazing enough I suppose to be hitting the headlines.

let's don't spread false info, it's not tax free, it's just exempt from vat, which is a different thing

i think no country is going to make it tax free, if you dump for fiat you need to declare no matter what

I didn't read it that way. "Exempt from VAT" means you don't need to pay VAT when you buy bitcoin from a shop or an exchange. It does not mean you do not need to pay VAT on a good/service and settle payment with bitcoin.

Also,
The way EU laws usually work is like this: The EU makes a new law, but every country has to make his own law with the EU law as a blueprint.
It might take months, even years, before every EU country has added a new EU law...

It really just mean Bitcoin exchanges won't be taxed, effectively making obtaining BTC a horrible deal because of the taxed markup. Definitively a good step for Bitcoin as a whole, but its nothing as fancy as "tax-free" bitcoin earning.

I am pretty sure that the governments would never do a tax free anything even if you got paid in potatoes. We shouldn't expect this much surely.

On the other side, we got everything that we needed to get. In order to get Bitcoin you don't need to pay 20% more on the exchange price. I can't even imagine how it would cripple our adoption if people had to pay 20% marge that went to the governments on the top of current Bitcoin exchange rate.

Yes but does this imply that Bitcoin can unofficially be called a legal tender now?

I remember when they put in that VAT and thought it was unusual
It's good to see that it was recalled or made to pay the regular rate instead.

As I understand it, it is the exchange of btc that is VAT exempt. So when you use a btc exchange there is no "goods and service" tax. That's about 14% savings.

In terms of VAT, because bitcoin is regarded to as a currency by the ECJ. As for capital gains, I think there is still tax for that.

NO

bitcoin was already vat (or as the yanks call sales tax) free.. it has been for 6 years, what has happened is that they have ruled that they wont suddenly make it a VAT inclusive product, and thus keep it at its currency status..

just remember everything is free until its ruled to not be. so dont assume the courts or governments make it free.. they simply decide not to be greedy

Capital gains free is the one that would turn people on. Germany aside, I don't think that'll ever happen.

That is very good news. But as some said, you still have to buy things, which will have taxes.

Great that there aren't additional taxes, though.

Some EU countries tax authorities wanted to tax Bitcoin so aggressively that it would dissuade people from using it. The latest EU decision will force those tax authorities to treat Bitcoin fairly. Bitcoin wouldn't have stood a chance against fiat if people had to pay more tax for using it rather than fiat. Now Bitcoin is on a level playing field with fiat.

So EU declares bitcoin as a currency, not a commodity. So it is VAT free.

Should bitcoin also be free from capital gains tax as it is a currency?

No. If you earn 30k BTC and of that 10k is profit per year, then your Bitcoin income should be taxed at 10k. Sure tax free sound good but the government need their tax income if we want them to not beat down on BTC.

I don't live in europe but I always see people arguing how the VAT is too high.
If it's not viewed as a product then no VAT should be put on it. All this time I thought it was a tax like in America
for goods and services. Never really looked in to it because I haven't made any purchases in EU countries. But good to know if I decide to go there next year when the price on btc really soars.

It would be hard for them to enforce taxes if the user knows what they are doing anyway.

Sure, but its not any easier or harder than tracking if someone is evading taxes while is being paid cash under the table. At some point, you need people to just come up and honestly pay their taxes like a "good citizen".

I just think profit on Bitcoin mining or trading etc should be declared as income like any other source of income. Of course if someone wants to do tax evasion, BTC does make it handy.

It is not treated as goods and services. It is regarded as currency. So there is not tax to pay if you use it or convert it to other currencies.

You will pay income tax like other fiat earnings.