Bitcoin Forum

This is great for Bitcoin adoption! Innisfil, Ontario in Canada is now accepting property tax payments in Bitcoin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YdQ2LOuduI&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YdQ2LOuduI&feature=youtu.be)

This is really a great one and it shows the level of cryptocurrency adoption and bitcoin is taking the lead, I just hope the crypto friendly environment will continue and spread to other part of the world where authorities see bitcoin as a thread to the traditional financial system and start accepting for tax and other Levy's.

I think this is old news. Heard about this through a thread somewhere in the forum before. This is good news, but this is a single city and not the whole of Canada that is allowing people to do this.

Some of my friends in Canada did inform me that the entire country might provide this feature in the near future though. Exciting times!

It's a great move, although the question is how long would they be keeping it like this and how would those taxes be useful for the said town in the long run knowing so well that only a handful of merchants, services, organizations and entities are willing to receive bitcoin in exchange of what they're offering. Somewhere along the way, they would be needing to convert these into fiat and I sure hope that they have OTC markets set-up for that in order to not disrupt the flow of the market. I just hope that they also encourage businesses to receive bitcoins in exchange of their merchandise and services, too, for it to have a wider use-case and not just limited into paying taxes because I'm pretty sure the interest for buying directly with bitcoin is already skyrocketing by now.

Yes it is an old news which is discussed in our forum earlier https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125818.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125818.0). Once again in my view bitcoin acceptance taken forward in Canada is really a good thing that supports the growth of bitcoin. Following Canada can expect more countries doing the same.

I have heard of this news and it's really unimaginable that bitcoin could reach most countries this way. We can see that bitcoin is continuously and actively moving in countries who are open for cryptocurrency adoption. In our country, it's being used to transact faster and easier but I'm also hoping that our country would also accept bitcoin to pay taxes. It is being used to pay bills and tuition here and I strongly believe that it could be used in more ways in the future.

Who the hell would want to pay the most boring cost of their daily lives with their precious asset? I could just about get over paying for something that gave me a great deal of pleasure when BTC was valued far lower. The idea of paying 1 BTC in taxes and then it doing a 10-20x before the year was out would utterly ravage me.

This is a bit old news, someone has already started thread with similar topic somedays ago on this forum. This is indeed a good news for cryptocurrencies that developed country like Canada has started accepting property taxes via Bitcoin in few cities. I hope govt will implement it in the entire country once this payment method is successful. Due to its decentralize nature, fast and cheap transaction, people will love to pay taxes with Bitcoin. Very soon other developed countries should start using cryptocurrencies in govt transactions.

I am surprised! I believe, few months back Canadian banks have started closing/freezing accounts if they are suspected to have dealt with cryptocurrency! I still found few news links about it,

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/888d25/cibc_bank_closes_down_my_account_for_trading/

https://www.trustnodes.com/2018/04/03/local-bitcoin-trading-volumes-spike-canada-bank-bans

Now it's a complete turn about from the previous stance! I doubt the authenticity of this news!

Ye they should allow it for the entire that would be a better news. Doing it with one city isn't going to make people buy btc just so they can pay their taxes, if they offer 20% less if tax payers pay in BTC, people may probably cram on Bitcoin ATM. Whenever I think the government is starting to accept BTC, it feels like they are also up to create their own exchange.

what I am asking is how the value of tax is determined by bitcoin which we all know so far that the price of bitcoin is always changing in an instant, is tax at a value with the ongoing btc price?

Of course. They'll be using somewhere like Bitpay most likely which sets the price the moment you're charged. I seriously doubt any government department is going to become a Bitcoin holder. The money flies out as quick as it comes in.

Great news really.
I hope that soon something like this will be possible in my country to.
Just recently main tax office issued official opinion about crypto trade and explain procedure how to report and pay taxes on the profit from crypto trade.
I hope that next step will be to accept possibility to pay taxes with bitcoin.
 

A complete U-turn?

This can happen time to time yet decisions and views would be reverted if they wanted to.This adoption shows some progress that it can really be used on these kind of transactions.
Hope they wont revert this once again.

This seems like great news, everyday we hear about these news about governments banning it and shutting people associated with it, and it is really good to see some good news coming from them at least for once, and i hope that this only encourages more and more people to trust in bitcoin and start using it, and not just for taxes but also in their everyday lives like to pay for groceries and pay for transportation.

In as much as this news is good to the Crypto sector, I believe this will bring more transparency in term of funds disbursements and funds received. For the Canadian citizen and government to approve this they must have seen the uniqueness of blockchain in their ecosystem and I hope the citizens of Canada continues to utilize this mode of payment.

The adaption of bitcoin in every country is increasing that is a really great news to all bitcoin users in the world even it is only happening in Canada we still have the hope that every country will do it and follow Canada.

reality check:

the small towns treasury when they want to receive property tax would say to the debtor 'you owe us $100'
when debtor pays with fiat via a credit card the treasury gets $98.25
when debtor pays with bitcoin via coinberrypay the treasury gets $99.50
(0.5% fee vs 1.75%)

BUT
here is the thing
the debtor is not paying exactly $100 in both examples


imagine it this way.
0.02btc on coinbase was $100
0.02btc on bitfinex was $101
0.02btc on binance was $99

but imagine coinberry pay used binances rate.
someone would need to pay 0.02020202

but imagine coinberry pay used bitfinex rate.
someone would need to pay 0.01980198

now the difference of 0.0202 and 0.0198 is 0.0004 or in short 2%
meaning the reality is from debtor to town treasury there can be a actual value swing of
2.5% going from fiat->btc->fiat

this is the reality check. because most gateway services say low fee's but then mess with users on the 'spread' (exchange rate) which is not a 'fee'

Day by day various types and ways of using bitcoin are getting more and more intense, continue to grow among the wider community.
In the future, the pros and cons of people's opinions on the existence of digital currencies such as bitcoin we hope will fade so that bitcoin can develop more attractively and people's interest in bitcoin adoption continues to increase.


If this feels easy, why not?...
For now I admit bitcoin transactions still have some obstacles, such as slow transactions and costs incurred. But in the future this kind of problem I think will be resolved.

Correct. As you can see from the government website (https://innisfil.ca/living/propertytaxesassessments/PayWithBitcoin), they are using Coinberry (https://www.coinberry.com/), a Canadian company which operates both a crypto exchange and a crypto payment processor, offering "instantaneous no-fee withdrawals of Canadian dollars".

If you read the news stories surrounding this (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43zjjd/you-can-pay-taxes-in-bitcoin-in-this-small-canadian-town), they are doing it simply to get away from the high fees charged by credit card companies. More adoption is always good, but I can't see a huge number of people lining up to give the government details of which bitcoin addresses belong to them.

That's a great news and this has just made my day. Actually this news is definitely pointing many to Bitcoin adoption becasue of the company that's involve in the tax. How will this tax be determine by the property owners becasue Bitcoin is not a stable currency? 

One example is that when you buy Bitcoin at $3000 and sell at $5000, you pay tax over $2000 in profits. If you have done multiple trades throughout the year, you add the value of all the profits you made and pay tax based on that. The shitty part is that in some countries they punish you extra for reporting higher profits. Rats they are.

In my case I also have to pay tax over the value of my entire wealth, and the way it works is that the value is calculated based on the total value on first of January. The higher the price of Bitcoin is on January the first, the more tax I end up paying. In that regard, it comes quite handy that Bitcoin always tends to crash in late December.

in january 2018 the price was over $10k and 2019 the price was under $5k so if your tax is based on value as of january each year. your at a loss. thus paying LESS tax this year

I think governments are observing how much will be demand on it. To my mind thyley don't plan to become bitcoin holder but just offer bitcoin payments as an alternative method among other available options.
Also news isn't old guys but not hot to be fair, along with Canada, USA also accepts tax to be paid by bitcoins in Ohio state.
Perhaps we will see other states/towns/cities or evem countries to follow this path.

He's already at a loss if he reports all coins he owns each year and pays tax based on that. It's a big enough burden to pay tax when you decide to convert your coins to fiat money but If I had to pay every year for holding my coins I'd never see any profits.

I like that they are allowing people to pay taxes in Bitcoin. At least payers will save up on conversion fees.

when we see many companies that start taking payment services in the form of virtual currencies, the government must make regulations. including tax. even KFC stores in Canada also accept BTC payments. I think the government of Canada responds well to the crypto world.

It is a good initiative that people are allowed to pay their taxes in Bitcoin but I don't really think this will help with mass adoption of Bitcoin. People who are not in the crypto ecosystem need to be educated on what Blockchain technology is and the role Bitcoin plays on the use of Blockchain technology and also the purpose behind the creation of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology. This rather will help people understand and appreciate Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Gladly to heard that news hope that decision of canadian government will follow by the ithe country, i hate taxes but if this way crypto for mas world adoption become world class useful digital currency to get convenient for fast transaction.

Yes.I'm sure the rest of the cities in canada will bound to accept too bitcoin as a payment method.It will only need time to make it possible.Hopefully not just in canada but the rest of the countries in the universe will be able to see the potentials of bitcoin and start to adopt bitcoin in their day to day transactions.This might not take for too long knowing that we are already living in digital age at the present.

Nice catch up, bitcoin adoption is growing gradually even in government circles.Some states in the US already allow this .bitcoin is a legal tender in Germany,so I guess same is applicable over there. Soon it will play better role in international trade.Countries with restrictions on bitcoin will then be forced to re-evalute their stance

Good move, by the government of Canada. This is not just because of the cashless way of paying tax but because cryptocurrency is involved as well. But of course, people that want to hold bitcoin can't be expected to pay their taxes by the use of bitcoin. But this is a really great way of adopting bitcoin. Bitcoin can now be found in the mainstream world and not in the underground world anymore.

Here in the Philippines we could also donate,Pay Bills, Pay tax,Buy Load and more with Bitcoin using our local wallet.
It is good to see that other country is also using crypto now as a payment option,
I hope in the future more and more country would accept it.

This is the original thread covering this town accepting Bitcoin. Canada approved paying bitcoin with Bitcoin for Innisfil town (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125818.0)

I'll clarify a few points like I did there. They are only a municipality that is accepting Bitcoin. Municipalities pretty much operate like a Corporate entity, and can set up their own by-laws and taxation schemes. These are independent of Provincial and Federal Laws, but must still comply with them.

So this really has no bearing on how the rest of Canada will adopt Bitcoin, other than some other towns or smaller cities might choose to follow suite. To clarify the Canadian Governement (Federal) has no plans to accept cryptocurrencies as payment in any way. They actively try and quash this rumor as it is used to scam Canadians every year.


Personally I think it's a PR stunt to help raise their profile. There will be a small number of individuals who will take part in this. Not to mention they will very likely cash out the majority of the received BTC immediately, because... you know... cost of running a city. They are located about an hour from Toronto, considered to be 95% of Canada by some, the center of the universe by others. Thisd could play into attracting new and vibrant people to their community for second homes, or a place close enough to Toronto.

this is a small step, because big step would be if they legalized bitcoin, they get in the uncertainty about whether they legalize or not legalize bitcoin and that does not help. Even with this news, even if they said that Canada's Z store and Canada's Y shop are accepting bitcoin as a means of payment, it would still be a small step for mass adoption. What we need most is that governments legalize bitcoin so that all people can use it without fear of ever waking up and hearing that the government is banning bitcoin because it is illegal in their country

Wow, that is great news! So much adaptation news nowadays in the bitcoinsphere. I hope everything fires up bitcoin prices.

Yes. Canada is one of those countries that has taken a less hostile approach to the cryptocurrency. In fact that is one of the few things that I like about Justin Trudeau. The regulations and policies in the United States are much more hostile.

well, well, well that's really a great news!  ;D
the next step would be introducing crypto for other governemnt payments including fees and penalties in crypto.

Hey yes their Prime Minister has a lenient approach towards bitcoins, and that’s why adoption rate has grown a lot there. I really like the idea of paying one’s taxes in bitcoins as people won’t hide the fact they have money in the form of bitcoins, and government will receive a steady revenue from the taxes. Also like you have said I’m hoping other countries imitate them, and allow taxpayers the option to pay taxes via bitcoins.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ont-town-first-in-canada-to-accept-bitcoin-for-property-tax-1.4379367

Residents of Innisfil, Ont. can now pay their tax using cryptocurrency, in a move that’s made the town the first municipality in the country that accepts Bitcoin.

The town entered a one-year pilot project this month, partnering with Coinberry Pay, a Toronto based crypto currency company to process bitcoin payments for property taxes.

We know all these gradual adoptions will eventually come up, we now need the government and the big banks to give licenses to real sectors to trade and start accepting cryptocurrencies, this will ensure a good inflow of money to the existing market, which will make the market to be more stable.

Indeed this is good news and i'm glad to see if there are countries who decide to involved in crypto world because this necessary to increase development of crypto for globally but i was wondering how far this will be successfully helpfull for the people on that country

Thats one good news on what has bitcoin reached,if i am not wrong i guess theres som states in america that accept also bitcoin like this!?sorry correct me if I’m wrong but  this is what we all need to happen the government will adopt cryptocurrency

That's another ways to introduce this chain, allowing the government to initialize and make things clearer for those people who still in doubt from this new system of payment process, if this kind of adoptions will continue surely it will be more usable than we expected to happen.

Even though it's local it will be a huge shift in the collective consciousness when people start thinking about paying taxes in bitcoin, as (unfortunately) if you can't pay your taxes with it, adoption will be a lot harder to push. I'm really glad to see this development underway.

This is very positive and this is what progress should lead to all the countries of the world, Canada is giving a clear example of what could be the total adoption of payment, and it would be left to them to change directly to USD or Local currency or keep to see if the price rises and start to see profits.

I think that this type of news should pass through all the news channels of CNN, BBC, CBS, and all social networks so that they can get to know and reach more people. If we take into account the technological point of view, the advance is huge, because the transactions do not last to arrive, they are easy and safe to do, and it is impossible to steal ... I believe that this security helps people a lot to make their payments .

This are definitely some great news especially because we are talking about a city from Canada, not a city from India or some kind of poor country where no one would actually use bitcoin as a payment. Of course we are not talking about a big city here but it's just the beginning and it looks promising

Indeed we can count this as good news for both Canada based crypto traders and our community. Hope other countries will take a lesson from Canada government and will accept similar decisions on a governmental level.

Even at a local level it'd be really positive, until whole countries adopt it. At least now, at a local level, we have more power to affect the decision making process and push this idea through. That's where some of this change can happen now.

This is a good development coming to the crypto currency and if others country of the world will emulate Canada then adoption will be more more quicker as expected.

This is a great alternative. So the German government sees bitcoin as a prospect and this will clearly contribute to the development of the coin. So this is great news for us.

Glad to see Europe is onboard with it. America seems to be far too interested in controlling the monetary supply, rather than democratizing it for the people.

This is a step in the right direction and another example of the growing legitimacy of bitcoin. Some states in the U.S. are also accepting bitcoin for the payment of taxes. It would be nice to see the IRS or its authorized payment processors welcome payment in bitcoin.

Which ones are doing that? I have only heard about this town in Canada.

Canada is a good country for crypto places, the Canada government also accepts BTC for payment of property taxes. coinberry pay is the platform they use to pay taxes. there are 2 big companies that have to pay taxes using BTC. one of them is overstock.

This is very awesome that means crypto (bitcoin in this subject) is reaching a moment where there are not so many worries in taking Bitcoin as a payment transaction.
With this we are one more step closer to achieve full world wide potential on using Crypto as one of the main payment currencies 8)

Yes. This could be a great move for bitcoin and maybe after few years, the rest of the cities in canada will soon to accept bitcoin as a mode of payment. I think bitcoin being a global currency is now becoming real as years passed by. There are still good things to happen that awaits bitcoin so we should keep on promoting bitcoin the best way we can.

A great country like Canada is always a good development in cryptocurrency. This mean that their government are willing to support this market, i would love to pay my taxes very conveniently. More cities will follow this one since bitcoin will not stop and it will go for more country just to be recognized well.

Canada is one among the wealthiest and the advanced country with less population. It is easy to manage as well develop things that add value to the government. As a part recently different thinking about the market have caused Canada and its citizens know about bitcoin and use with support from government.

coins exist for the completely opposite reason... to not* give them over to the gov guys.

pay your taxes in cdn yen/zimbabwe dollars... and HODL

nevar forget

 8)

I am really glad that countries are giving a way to cryptos to prosper and grow. These small small initiatives will help in wide scale adoption. When people see the use of a decentralized currency, they adopt it or at least read about it. For initial stage this is enough for the crypto space.

I heard something like this as well, but if I recall right it was a city in the states, not Canada.

Why would anyone want any gov't agency to be able to see the entire history of the bitcoin they received from their tax payment?  Sounds like a nice step forward for bitcoin, but personally I would not want to pay taxes or anything else to the gov't with bitcoin.  I would prefer that the gov't remains ignorant of my involvement in bitcoin.

As do I, but you know they tax everything.  You cannot even buy things on Amazon anymore without paying taxes, at least in the states.  They have their grubby little hands in all of our pockets and will not be satisfied until they have taxed us to death.

well the thats some good bitcoin adoption
property tax is not small amount so using bitcoin as transaction is lot cheaper using credit card

i don't think it's a good idea to pay taxes with bitcoin, if your holding bitcoin as an investment i think its best to pay with fiat, unless you don't have enough money, any adoption to bitcoin is good for cryptocurrency, soon it will spread to neighboring countries and probably the world next.

first of all this is not "taxes on bitcoin", read the news first, this is about paying taxes with bitcoin which means they are starting to see bitcoin for what it really is: a currency.
secondly, taxes are absurd, taxes on bitcoin are just taxes like anything else. if you have a problem with taxation then don't bring bitcoin in it. as a result this place is not the place to discuss them!

This will soon happen when a small area accepts it as a form of payment. It will soon spread to neighborhoods, and I believe Bitcoin will show people its convenience when it comes to paying or paying other common expenses. I believe Bitcoin will please everyone.

It is a good way for exposure, i guess. Offering payment method for bitcoin is one of the way to spread awareness that beside the fiat currency, we have other option like bitcoin where people could use to pay things and also as an investment that can give them a lot of earnings that is higher than the usual investment vehicle.

Canada has always been more progressive than the United States, this doesn't surprise me in the slightest.  They have better healthcare, better technology infrrastructure, and a cleaner environment.  I did however hear of Ohio accepting tax payments in bitcoin.  That has been the only state in the United States so far.

Accepting the bitcoins for paying the taxes is truly  remarkable in bitcoins journey;  from this event it shows more exposure in the bitcoin community in the whole world that all stereotypes from them are not true.

It shows that bitcoin bitcoin is a legit meduim of currency that can be used in paying all transactions and can be considered as a legal tender which the government shows in their act of accepting bitcoins as payment for personal taxes.

This is a great sign that they are now accepting crypto I think in the future it would only be natural to pay any tax with our crypto.
Crypto currency is now moving forward and being adopted by so many companies and business this is really great for all of us.
I mean we could just easily pay up with our phone or our laptop without leaving our house we could spend more time with our family instead of going out to pay our tax.

This is true news, but what I know is that they apply property tax payments only in parts of Canada, not all of them apply it.
But I really appreciate what the government does there, with this means that many are starting to believe in bitcoin

Thank you for verifying this information, although it is only applicable in the neighborhood it's a good start.
 I believe we will soon see Bitcoin widely accepted and everyone knows Bitcoin and uses it.

very good news about the development of bitcoin in Canada. I am happy to see the development of bitcoin in other countries, I also hope that in my country I can accept bitcoin as a tool to pay taxes, and other payments.
if in my country I accept payment with bitcoin then I will buy something with bitcoin because payment with bitcoin is cheaper than payment via credit card.

Let me correct the author.  Innisfil, Ontario is not a city in Canada but a municipality. This is the first municipality which belongs Northern American Nation to accepts bitcoin in paying taxes. But this is not the first time I heard of it. There was an area in Switzerland which is the first in the world to accept bitcoin to pay taxes and it was followed I guess by Ohio (first US state to accept bitcoin to pay taxes).

But seeing 3 areas in 3 big countries that has government allowing bitcoin to be paid as a form of payment for taxes is a big news. It is another huge progress for the bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency community.

To be fair, city and municipality are kind of interchangeable. Sure a city is technically a bigger place so a municiplatity would be considered a smaller place where there are less people, but it isn't necessary to go into that much detail for a simple online forum post about it, which can just say city or town and that's good enough to understand the point of it.

I am glad Canada is considering crypto as a form of currency/mode of payment. Where most countries are only giving it a status of asset. In my country, it is being termed as assets and not a legal tender. Such restrictions are harmful for the growth. Canada has always been acceptable to cryptocurrency and this step forward is much appreciated. I hope other countries follow the suit.

This is definitely good news for Bitcoin community hoping to see more places follow them and adapt to BTC for payment modes, this will help a lot in the growth over time and gain more people's trust.

This is great news. This means that Bitcoin is moving in the right direction with the government being lax around it and accepting its uses and benefits. This can also be and eye opener for others to acknowledge Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the public scene.

well, this doesnt come as a surprise to me as i have in the past few month seen or heard of so many countries adopting bitcoin usage like buying of movie tickets in Brazil, being able to pay bills with bitcoin in Philippines and lots of others. This clearly shows the world is gradually accepting the fact that bitcoin is the future and has come to stay and are gradually migrating to bitcoin usage. We will continue to see such news from time to time.

This is nice because even paying taxes you can pay it to bitcoik and that good start for us this year, they have many payment option will see now are accepting bitcoin and that is good adaption and I hope more store and even more government in different countries will reconize and accept bitcoin. Citizens of canada will pay taxes using bitcoin and they help canadian people who did not know what is bitcoin and they help to grow our community because we know once they accept bitcoin payment for taxes other people will be curious and they will invest also once they see good part of the bitcoin.

Yes, it's a good thing for Bitcoin, because people can now pay taxes in Canada, with Bitcoin. Bitcoin is also being used in many cases offline, which indicates Bitcoin's beautiful future. Bitcoin has been influencing it even through online offline. Also, in many countries, Bitcoin is being used in many offline ways, such as purchasing products, paying bills, purchasing movie tickets, etc are being used in many are sure to bring something good for Bitcoin to the future.

Does anyone know how many people are actually using crypto to pay taxes in these three areas? Or has the project been a big fat flop?

This is just a normal news, it is just showing that bitcoin is gradually gaining popularity and acceptance but this is not important, it is important that people need to actively participate and invest in bitcoin, but unfortunately, I didn't see that point, a lot of similar news has happened but the community and bitcoin users still have no significant increases, we need something more remarkable and outstanding, news that can help increase the value of bitcoin, instead of so normal news

It looks like businesses are beginning to pay taxes with crypto too:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-retail-giant-overstock-to-use-bitcoin-to-pay-its-taxes-in-ohio


This is something to watch, because if it works for Ohio, other states will copy them.

There are still great things to happen for bitcoin in the next years. Yes a lot of bitcoin transactions have been happening already even offline. But in my own place, bitcoin can only be process once an internet connection is there, i still have not heard offline transactions with bitcoin. But for those developed countries who have adopted bitcoin earlier, surely they are the ones who are doing a lot of transactions offline or online.

Even if they accept the payment using cryptos, the government will eventually convert to fiat. That is, Bitcoin is being used as a means of payment, competing with a credit card or bank transfer.

This does not cause Bitcoin to become a common currency, it does not make Bitcoin strip the utility of the fiat. It is not what many dream about. But it is a clear demonstration of how Bitcoin is a technological advancement for various needs. It can be used as a means of payment or as a store of value.

This is great news. However, let's hope that this will soon be possible on a state, and federal level.