Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Legal => Topic started by: cryptofan5 on August 21, 2014, 12:48:55 AM



Title: The Australian Tax Office rules bitcoin to be an asset, not a currency
Post by: cryptofan5 on August 21, 2014, 12:48:55 AM
In the first ruling of its kind the ATO in Australia has ruled that bitcoin and other coins are not currencies and are assets for taxation purposes:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/australian-tax-office-decides-bitcoins-are-assets-not-currency-20140820-1063gq.html

It seems to me that this ruling may have a far reaching consequences - most likely no special licenses would be required to exchange bitcoin since it is not viewed by the government as a financial instrument.



Title: Re: The Australian Tax Office rules bitcoin to be an asset, not a currency
Post by: itsAj on August 23, 2014, 06:46:44 PM
This is really no different then how the US IRS treats BTC. The AUS tax office likely used the IRS rules as somewhat of a template to make their own rules. I would doubt that just because AUS considers BTC to be an asset that they would not attempt to regulate it in some way, although it also doens't necessarily mean they will try to regulate it either.