Bitcoin taxation in the UK?

[Alessandra]

In the United States, bitcoin is treated as an item of property and is subject to property tax. Whereas in the United Kingdom, bitcoin is treated as private money and is subject to value added tax, corporate tax, income tax and capital gains tax. Since bitcoin is property in the US, when lost or stolen, there are deductions available. Does it mean that when taxed under UK laws, bitcoin cannot be subject to any deductions or exemptions because it is not property but money? What about when bitcoin is given as a gift - what is the proper way of taxation?

[Kevin77]

I guess it is too early to worry on bitcoin taxation in UK as they are still studying about the possibilities of taxes on digital assets. At the same time, many European countries have cleared bitcoin as digital property and tax free.

[BingoDog]

Yes, in.many countries Bitcoin is tax free. Within the Europe there are some intenzivne to unify regulation of  Bitcoin but without some special restrictions.
You have mentioned taxation of Bitcoin as a gift but I don't think there will be no such tax because in most european countries gifts in form of real estates, vehichles, money etc. are tax free too.

[Milkduds]

The one Country that loves to stifle and control its people has to be the U.K hands down in the democratic bent world. Would really be the only Country that I could see cracking down in any way,they seem to lead in that department when it comes to the cyber world.
They do seem to have their hands full at the moment with Brexit and now Trump,so they may be distracted for now. But nothing stopping them from throwing it in a random vote as a sidenote.

[cakravothy]

I think is good news
because if bitcoin can pay TAX, so bitcoin in regulated too
and all country regulated bitcoin, so bitcoin can use all country in the world
and not problem about law

[Milkduds]

I think is good news
because if bitcoin can pay TAX, so bitcoin in regulated too
and all country regulated bitcoin, so bitcoin can use all country in the world
and not problem about law

Not picking on you but this type of thinking seems to be in conflict with why bitcoin was created in the first place.
If you want to regulate and suck dry the concept of bitcoin,its best to drive this attitude into a alt-coin and not run bitcoin off into lalaland.

Regulation does not bring automatic global approval,it brings complicated cross border issues as each Country will have different rules for clients to jump through.
So you actually create more roadblocks than you would think,all the well allowing government to document you for future scrutiny. Its very shortsighted and this ideology needs to be squashed.

Tax is like bending over and asking for another smack on the ass because you like submitting to authority. Once a tax is in place it rarely if ever goes away and quite often is increased for multiple reasons. One could be to kill bitcoin altogether and bring in a more streamlined coin that has a backdoor.
You have to understand that the blockchain gets more love from governments and banks because they want to copy it,not extend it. Copying it would allow them to insert all kinds of goodie like my favorite,negative interest rates!

[pooya87]

you should consult a lawyer or a financial expert in your country where you live, people around here are not experts in these delicate matters and you may get some bad information which can cause you problems in the future.

also take a look at legal board here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=74.0 that is more up the alley of your question.

[clickerz]

I guess it is too early to worry on bitcoin taxation in UK as they are still studying about the possibilities of taxes on digital assets. At the same time, many European countries have cleared bitcoin as digital property and tax free.

Its too early and the industry is too young to be tax i think. More study should be conducted and if there are already users, then that is the time to implement. The government only wants their share through tax. 

[Fortify]

In the United States, bitcoin is treated as an item of property and is subject to property tax. Whereas in the United Kingdom, bitcoin is treated as private money and is subject to value added tax, corporate tax, income tax and capital gains tax. Since bitcoin is property in the US, when lost or stolen, there are deductions available. Does it mean that when taxed under UK laws, bitcoin cannot be subject to any deductions or exemptions because it is not property but money? What about when bitcoin is given as a gift - what is the proper way of taxation?

The law obviously changes as it crosses borders, depends on whether you are buying/selling and it varies based on the people completing the transation as well. US laws are not relevant to the UK and vice versa. Do you mean a gift, like giving to charity or simply sending money to someone? I would imagine it is very hard to prove that you "gave away" anything without trying to gain some sort of benefit.

[Zadicar]

I guess it is too early to worry on bitcoin taxation in UK as they are still studying about the possibilities of taxes on digital assets. At the same time, many European countries have cleared bitcoin as digital property and tax free.

Its too early and the industry is too young to be tax i think. More study should be conducted and if there are already users, then that is the time to implement. The government only wants their share through tax. 

I dont  know why  people  keep  on  telling these  kind  of things  hence its  seems too  impossible to happen to  impose tax on  bitcoin. In  my  own  view  only, if  it does then  for sure  it would really  takes   time same as  others said  here. There are  lots of  things  need  to study  on  this such  implementation of   tax into bitcoin.

[amacar2]

I think is good news
because if bitcoin can pay TAX, so bitcoin in regulated too
and all country regulated bitcoin, so bitcoin can use all country in the world
and not problem about law

The real question and problem that will arise in taxation of bitcoin related transaction is its anonymity. Actually i really doubt bitcoin will be considered as even money in many coutries in the world specially in under develop and developing countries.

But it is true that if majority of countries start to accept bitcoin as digital asset and tax free, bitcoin can be used as cheap and secure way to have cross border money transfer.

[Alessandra]

I guess it is too early to worry on bitcoin taxation in UK as they are still studying about the possibilities of taxes on digital assets. At the same time, many European countries have cleared bitcoin as digital property and tax free.

I am writing a paper and that is the reason I asked

[Alessandra]

Yes, in.many countries Bitcoin is tax free. Within the Europe there are some intenzivne to unify regulation of  Bitcoin but without some special restrictions.
You have mentioned taxation of Bitcoin as a gift but I don't think there will be no such tax because in most european countries gifts in form of real estates, vehichles, money etc. are tax free too.

Yeah but gift taxes are to be paid when a certain threshold is exceeded. So my question is the following: if bitcoin is not property in the UK so what happens when we lose the bitcoin or when it is stolen from us? Can we claim a deduction/exemption and based on which section of the law?

[Alessandra]

you should consult a lawyer or a financial expert in your country where you live, people around here are not experts in these delicate matters and you may get some bad information which can cause you problems in the future.

also take a look at legal board here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=74.0 that is more up the alley of your question.

Ok, thank you very much for the insight. I will do that.

[JessicaG]

In the United States, bitcoin is treated as an item of property and is subject to property tax. Whereas in the United Kingdom, bitcoin is treated as private money and is subject to value added tax, corporate tax, income tax and capital gains tax. Since bitcoin is property in the US, when lost or stolen, there are deductions available. Does it mean that when taxed under UK laws, bitcoin cannot be subject to any deductions or exemptions because it is not property but money? What about when bitcoin is given as a gift - what is the proper way of taxation?

This is interesting; let's say you are a UK citizen, but have your Bitcoins stored in a wallet that's on a server which resides in the United States. By law, then those Bitcoins wouldn't be UK private money, but US property. So if you are a UK citizen, and have hold on US assets (Bitcoins, or any other form of property), how is that perceived in the UK and/or taxed?

[buwaytress]

I think is good news
because if bitcoin can pay TAX, so bitcoin in regulated too
and all country regulated bitcoin, so bitcoin can use all country in the world
and not problem about law

Not picking on you but this type of thinking seems to be in conflict with why bitcoin was created in the first place.
If you want to regulate and suck dry the concept of bitcoin,its best to drive this attitude into a alt-coin and not run bitcoin off into lalaland.

Regulation does not bring automatic global approval,it brings complicated cross border issues as each Country will have different rules for clients to jump through.
So you actually create more roadblocks than you would think,all the well allowing government to document you for future scrutiny. Its very shortsighted and this ideology needs to be squashed.

Tax is like bending over and asking for another smack on the ass because you like submitting to authority. Once a tax is in place it rarely if ever goes away and quite often is increased for multiple reasons. One could be to kill bitcoin altogether and bring in a more streamlined coin that has a backdoor.
You have to understand that the blockchain gets more love from governments and banks because they want to copy it,not extend it. Copying it would allow them to insert all kinds of goodie like my favorite,negative interest rates!

Here's someone who's given a thought to bitcoin's original (and I believe, current) agendas. Which is really why I don't understand how it's becoming more and more difficult for newcomers to the scene to obtain some of their own bitcoin (I'm talking about the ridiculous rules and restrictions from exchangers now). Whatever happened to the feel-good community factor and ideology of freedom? I feel like only Dogecoin is still close to the spirit intended.

P.S. If they start taxing bitcoin, people will just choose another crypto =)

[MingLee]

I think they're still doing studies and deciding whether or not they're going to tax Bitcoin, but so far it has been looking like there are some very basic plans being drawn up, although none are being actively implemented to my knowledge.

Check the laws, and I don't know for certain.