Does the Bitcoin Foundation seek the taxability of bitcoins?

[pretendo]

Because I believe they seek mainstreaming and legitimization, but I do not know much.

[QuantumQrack]

^^ 
This is a good question.

[deadserious]

Bitcoins aren't taxable now?  Surely you jest...

[klaus]

sorry saying this, but i hope so!

There's no other way out of the underground. I know very much want to stay underground.

[Etlase2]

There isn't anything that the bitcoin foundation can do about it. If bitcoin became a powerful force, or cryptocurrencies in general, it would probably encourage governments to bring in taxes via sales tax rather than income tax.

[phantastisch]

sorry saying this, but i hope so!

There's no other way out of the underground. I know very much want to stay underground.

This. If we want Bitcoin to succeed and not to vanish we need to work on its acceptance. This will include taxes even if most of the people here are seeking a secure tax heaven (and a New World Order).

[jojo69]

There isn't anything that the bitcoin foundation can do about it. If bitcoin became a powerful force, or cryptocurrencies in general, it would probably encourage governments to bring in taxes via sales tax rather than income tax.

what, they going to search every piece of mail to make sure it is not part of a transaction?  What kind of world are we building?

[Saturn7]

Bitcoins can be treated legally as shares of a company.
All the tax framework for dealing with shares are already in place.

[lonelyminer (Peter Šurda)]

It is unlikely that merely because there is no explicit classification of Bitcoin it would mean it's untaxed. The question is how exactly to tax it. See Trace Mayer (sunnankar) and Bill Rounds' ebook on taxation of Bitcoin. In Europe it is very similar (but there are some differences). In principle all income you obtain is taxable unless specifically excluded. There are some countries that do not tax foreign profits, some do not tax dividends, for example.

[Etlase2]

what, they going to search every piece of mail to make sure it is not part of a transaction?  What kind of world are we building?

Are you under the impression that most commerce is done by mail? What does this have to do with sales tax?

[wareen]

I'm not sure I fully understand the question. IMHO it's like asking about the taxability of cash or Paypal. If a business sells something then it usually has to pay taxes for that sale, no matter what kind of payment the deal was settled in. Just because a transaction was done in a way that leaves no inherent paper trail (i.e. cash) doesn't change anything regarding the taxability.

Are you asking if the foundation is trying to get a ruling about Bitcoin's legal nature (i.e. currency vs. commodity) or are you talking about whether they are trying to legally tie Bitcoin transactions to taxable identities? The first one is very much needed in my opinion although there seems to be little doubt about it being eventually classified as a currency. The second thing on the other hand is simply futile because there is simply no sane way to do that reliably with a decentralized crypto-currency like Bitcoin.

Please, someone enlighten me where people seem to see a problem here.

[Nemesis]

There isn't anything that the bitcoin foundation can do about it. If bitcoin became a powerful force, or cryptocurrencies in general, it would probably encourage governments to bring in taxes via sales tax rather than income tax.

what, they going to search every piece of mail to make sure it is not part of a transaction?  What kind of world are we building?

dumbass, what does sale tax mean to you?

[chmod755]

sorry saying this, but i hope so!

There's no other way out of the underground. I know very much want to stay underground.

This. If we want Bitcoin to succeed and not to vanish we need to work on its acceptance. This will include taxes even if most of the people here are seeking a secure tax heaven (and a New World Order).

There are no taxes for gold in many countries, why should Bitcoin be treated differently?

[kiba]

There isn't anything that the bitcoin foundation can do about it. If bitcoin became a powerful force, or cryptocurrencies in general, it would probably encourage governments to bring in taxes via sales tax rather than income tax.

Exactly. Income tax are disgusting violation of financial privacy.

[sharky112065]

I hope not.

[deadserious]

There are no taxes for gold in many countries, why should Bitcoin be treated differently?

There is in the USA.

Is Bitcoin is a currency or a commodity?  The answer only mildly changes how things might be taxed, but there will always be government around trying to abscond with their vig.

[The_Duke]

Who cares what the TBF seeks or doesn't seek. Do YOU seek taxability of bitcoins?

[crazy_rabbit]

I think people need to separate the issue of whether or not Taxation is a just and moral thing, and what is being built with Bitcoin. As far as I understand it (and correct me if wrong) it wasn't a solution to avoiding taxation, that just seemed to be an interpreted byproduct of unbreakable crypto which attracted a ton of anti-tax folks to the movement. But that doesn't seem to be an inherent design choice of Bitcoin.

Getting it taxed would make it legitimate a hell of a lot faster. Not that I'm pro, but playing by the rules doesn't make it any less cryptographically verifiable and enforceable contracts.

[ralree]

There are no taxes for gold in many countries, why should Bitcoin be treated differently?

There is in the USA.

Is Bitcoin is a currency or a commodity?  The answer only mildly changes how things might be taxed, but there will always be government around trying to abscond with their vig.

Also, if you're not making a good faith effort to pay at least SOME tax on it, good luck explaining to the IRS that your BTC profits weren't taxable and you weren't evading taxes.  Get a good lawyer.

[nobbynobbynoob]

Also, if you're not making a good faith effort to pay at least SOME tax on it, good luck explaining to the IRS that your BTC profits weren't taxable and you weren't evading taxes.  Get a good lawyer.

The (evil) IRS doesn't even have to know about those profits unless you convert to fiat. And even then, why not pay into a non-US bank account? I'm not making any claims of the legality of such actions, but AFAICS the only obvious way to tax BTC profit would be at the point of conversion to US$ paid into a US bank.

In Europe, where income and sales tax levels are high or even astronomical, it isn't unusual for private individuals and merchants to do business in cash and then conveniently "forget" about the 20+% VAT due on that transaction. Surely the same could work with BTC payments, if the merchant so desires, even though this is "technically" (haha) illegal.