What tax bracket to register under as a miner

[Fatman3001]

I've been in contact with the Norwegian tax authorities regarding which tax bracket / industry code to register under as a fully fledged Bitcoin mining company, and they have basically given up and sent the question back to me(?!?!). They are wondering what they do in comparable countries like the US, UK, Netherlands or Sweden and similar. So if anyone has registered, or know what to register under in their country it would be helpful for me and hopefully for others as well.

Any information will be appreciated.

[TheRealSteve]

The Norwegian tax authorities should really figure this out for themselves, as there's no consensus between countries on how Bitcoin (transacting, holding) is taxed, never mind the intricacies that come into play when mining.

A general trend however is that 1. any Bitcoin you get or possess (which would include any Bitcoin you leave hanging around a pool without getting it paid out - as it's technically your Bitcoin) is either taxed as income, or as assets, and 2. If you're generating these the Bitcoins yourself (i.e. mining), then above a certain level you can also be considered to be (part) self-employed, with taxes as appropriate.

Note that the purchase of the mining hardware (not sure about cloud mining) may be tax deductible as well.

There's actually a minor blurb in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country#Norway which might be more on-point for you.

[TheRealSteve]

I thought unless you are a huge miner it is something you kind've skip over, I don't think the tax agencies are concerned about crypto until it is a lot of fiat you are exchanging from it.

Depends entirely on the tax system.  If the tax system considers Bitcoin mined as e.g. income tax and/or a sign that you're essentially self-employed, they care.  If you're thinking "it's just a small amount" - so are most earnings from places like etsy, tindie and other such storefronts for individuals, and yet: https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/taxes-101-for-etsy-sellers/22721885775

As one comment there notes:

Of course there is some ammount of income You dont have to pay taxes but still have to make the paperwork for it.

Ask your tax office or accountant, though - this is going to vary between countries, between states, etc. and a lot of the dust on this hasn't quite settled yet

[Fatman3001]

I thought unless you are a huge miner it is something you kind've skip over, I don't think the tax agencies are concerned about crypto until it is a lot of fiat you are exchanging from it.

The site I'm on has a 630kva (400Kw continuous power draw at 80%) transformer with line capacity to support four more. So i am aiming for 2MW within a three year period. There is no way of hiding something like that even if I wanted to.

If I register as a company and show some profits for a certain period of time I can get a loan on the company rather than my person. And I would have something to show investors if I want funding that way.

I guess I could just register as a data center, but then I would have to explain how it is that I don't have any customers. That I "produce" a digital unit that I can sell on an internet exchange in a foreign country. This will probably not be much of a problem, but it wouldn't hurt if I and the authorities agree that this really falls within that category before I register. However, if I could register as an "industrial producer of the commodity bitcoin" I would pay 2 cents per KW less on my electricity. And in bitcoin mining that matters.

Ideally they would just give a well founded answer back to me, but that's not what they've done. So I will have to argue my case more fully and preferably show how it's done in other countries and why. Ideally I could just point to KnCMiner as they are also a scandinavian company, but they are primarily a chip and HW producer. If anyone has any suggestions on companies who's fully registered and only does mining (no hosting, no data center services, no chip/HW manufacturing) then info on those would maybe give me something to work with.

[timk225]

LOL TAXES, are you friggin' kidding?  Bitcoin is a tax free deal!  I never reported a penny of the money I made by selling my Litecoins back when the price spiked, and there's no bank records of it either because it never went through my bank!

Screw the government, they will not spend the money wisely so they get none of mine!  Except for regular W2 job income, can't help that.

[Fatman3001]

LOL TAXES, are you friggin' kidding?  Bitcoin is a tax free deal!  I never reported a penny of the money I made by selling my Litecoins back when the price spiked, and there's no bank records of it either because it never went through my bank!

Screw the government, they will not spend the money wisely so they get none of mine!  Except for regular W2 job income, can't help that.

2 cents off per kwh could be much more lucrative than tax evasion.

[Amph]

LOL TAXES, are you friggin' kidding?  Bitcoin is a tax free deal!  I never reported a penny of the money I made by selling my Litecoins back when the price spiked, and there's no bank records of it either because it never went through my bank!

Screw the government, they will not spend the money wisely so they get none of mine!  Except for regular W2 job income, can't help that.

how did you managed that? you mean that you never dumped, or that you deals with fiat only in real life(face to face for example)

[timk225]

Can't give out too many details, someone from the IRS may be reading.  Let's just say there is no paper trail leading to me.

[notlist3d]

LOL TAXES, are you friggin' kidding?  Bitcoin is a tax free deal!  I never reported a penny of the money I made by selling my Litecoins back when the price spiked, and there's no bank records of it either because it never went through my bank!

Screw the government, they will not spend the money wisely so they get none of mine!  Except for regular W2 job income, can't help that.

how did you managed that? you mean that you never dumped, or that you deals with fiat only in real life(face to face for example)

I'm thinking most likely face to face or he used them to buy things.  I think finding no trace would be hard for most.  I think in US coinbase is pretty common.

One thing about it I think of it as more of a capital gain on tax.  IE you only make profit when it's sold.  You would need to know what price it sells, cost of buying, possibly cost to mine, and in the end profit.  So unless sold you are not making a profit and I would argue no tax.