India May Levy 18 Percent Tax on Cryptocurrency Trading Starting July 2018

[Prodigye]

India, the world’s second-largest country by population, may soon give a glimmer of hope to cryptocurrency investors after months of propagating a negative agenda against the digital asset class.(taken from https://www.ccn.com/india-may-levy-18-percent-tax-on-cryptocurrency-trading-starting-july-2018/)

For Indian bitcoin traders out there, this will surely be negative news but it also means that bitcoin is being legitimized. What do you think about this and how will you prepare for it?

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[Harlot]

Valid points on differentiating Stocks to Cryptocurrency, although I disagree that not all altcoins can be considered as a Good or even a service, but there is no doubt that Utility Tokens must be under it. Also as long as there are no other taxes involve I can say that this is a fair law being issue to make their markets more balance. I don't see anything wrong with it. I really like how one of the biggest country is showing regulation instead of prohibition.

[SectorZero]

India, the world’s second-largest country by population, may soon give a glimmer of hope to cryptocurrency investors after months of propagating a negative agenda against the digital asset class.(taken from https://www.ccn.com/india-may-levy-18-percent-tax-on-cryptocurrency-trading-starting-july-2018/)

For Indian bitcoin traders out there, this will surely be negative news but it also means that bitcoin is being legitimized. What do you think about this and how will you prepare for it?

I also completely agree that it is positive news. India - one of those countries who was against cryptocurrency, but everything changes. The countries begin to understand that if you reject this technology, you are very far from progress.

[Wheelige]

This is pretty much great news, for both india and the bitcoin network globally. The number of potential users available in India is huge.
India is a growth economy and needs to be making moves to increase its cash flow and taxing crypto instead of banning it is a decent move.
I genuinely don't see a solid reason to ban cryptos, the idea to ban it to remove tax evasion is silly as it leaves a solid paper trail (most exchanges at least theres OTC stuff that would likely be a bit harder to track) and also if you facilitate it and tax it then chances are it wont be used for tax evasion as its monitored etc.
Considering the rate it seems pretty fair as personal income tax rates are around 17% (which is pretty low when considered globally) and corporate rates sit between 30-40, although i understand that action may be taken to lower that to increase the corporate draw to india. 
Even with the blood on the streets atm I havent read anything genuinely bad but keep seeing news like this that gives me hope for a globally accepted friction-less payment system.

[Sandeep24]

it is good news for every indian. Indian government has accpeted Bitcoin crunncy.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

It is really good. There are only two options: ban or regulation and taxes. I prefer the second one but I would like taxes as low as possible. As India has a large population I think this will have a great impact in the crypto market mid-term.

[avikz]

India, the world’s second-largest country by population, may soon give a glimmer of hope to cryptocurrency investors after months of propagating a negative agenda against the digital asset class.(taken from https://www.ccn.com/india-may-levy-18-percent-tax-on-cryptocurrency-trading-starting-july-2018/)

For Indian bitcoin traders out there, this will surely be negative news but it also means that bitcoin is being legitimized. What do you think about this and how will you prepare for it?

This is not a good news at all and may kill the crypto business in India. From what I read in the article, it seems like the cryptos will be considered as intangible goods in India. So every transaction will consider as a transfer of goods and related services that will come under the purview of GST council. As per the basic legislative structure of GST, it is imposed on the market price of any goods. So if the government starts charging 18% GST on a transaction, that will mitigate the profits in majority of the trades, effectively discouraging the crypto traders for executing any further trade.

However, I am keeping p2p trades outside of this negative view. Because most of the p2p traders are earning bitcoins and other crypto currencies by providing services like freelancing, blogging, coding etc. So they will only loose 18% from the earned money and get rest of the money in to their bank account. These call of crypto earners will be positively effected because their earning will then considered as a legal one.

I believe this is the proposal given to the GST council and nothing has been finalized yet. Lets wait for the development and final outcome.

[Name: Claudio]

isn't 18% too much for a tax, I believe minimum is 10%, well they should have bracket for tax implementation regardless on what amount they earned in a month, its a little bit injustice if they both give 18% tax on two person who's earning $2000 compared to $ 10000, in my part tax on our earning from crypto is not a problem at all, as long as I say we have a bracket.

[marielbeckham]

What a great news! Finally something promising.

[audaciousbeing]

India, the world’s second-largest country by population, may soon give a glimmer of hope to cryptocurrency investors after months of propagating a negative agenda against the digital asset class.(taken from https://www.ccn.com/india-may-levy-18-percent-tax-on-cryptocurrency-trading-starting-july-2018/)

For Indian bitcoin traders out there, this will surely be negative news but it also means that bitcoin is being legitimized. What do you think about this and how will you prepare for it?

I am not sure this is going to be a bad news or negative when it comes into operation because not everyone wants to avoid paying tax. Currentl, with the apprehensive nature of Indian authorities against crypto currency, a lot of people would have been discouraged and even suspended everything that relates with crypto because of the fear of punishment that might be meted against them.

But the 18% is actually a good one even though its on the high side though because for some who makes a gain of $200, $36 should not be too high to cough out and most importantly the process of calculating the gain as it must better be at the point of converting to fiat because anything other than that is going to be an outright punishment for engaging in crypto currency.

[cryptoloverlife]

18% I believe is on a higher side. GOI has not played a clear-cut role in the regulations still...BEfore even 18% tax, a lot of people have been taxed much more than 18%

if an income is taxed, then it should mean that earning through that mode is legal. Still, GOI has not clarified its stance towards it.


 

[buwaytress]

Anonymous sources are seldom to be trusted... you can even be sure that the goverment there will be embarassed that this leaked, so the eventual ruling would be even softer to save some face.

What I predict: there will be GST but it won't be so high, and, like most taxes, only levied on realised income (the moment it is liquidated for profit).

I doubt every transaction will be GST'd, just doesn't make sense, they might instead GST the commissions/fees of the exchanges, which I suppose would still be passed on to traders!

However, I am keeping p2p trades outside of this negative view. Because most of the p2p traders are earning bitcoins and other crypto currencies by providing services like freelancing, blogging, coding etc. So they will only loose 18% from the earned money and get rest of the money in to their bank account. These call of crypto earners will be positively effected because their earning will then considered as a legal one.

Power to P2P and OTC!

[darkangel11]

isn't 18% too much for a tax, I believe minimum is 10%, well they should have bracket for tax implementation regardless on what amount they earned in a month, its a little bit injustice if they both give 18% tax on two person who's earning $2000 compared to $ 10000, in my part tax on our earning from crypto is not a problem at all, as long as I say we have a bracket.

Of course it is if you support libertarian values or are just a normal, sane person. That said, many countries tax income even more than 20%. 18 would be considered a low tax in the EU for instance. In Germany the lowest bracket is 14%, but go to one of its neighbors like Poland and you'll get 19% IMO bitcoin trading should not be taxed as long as the coin isn't officially accepted by the government.

[jseverson]

That sounds pretty hefty. Would you still need to pay income tax on any gains by holding? That would be ridiculous if so. But uh, I guess this legitimizes crypto and would shut the door on any talk of bans in the foreseeable future. Can't have it both ways, I guess.

On a related note, does the RBI still want banks to close accounts that deal with cryptocurrencies? Would taxation affect that?

[sunsilk]

Before it's bad when we hear governments will impose taxation but we have to embrace it just like what they are doing to adjust and adopt.

I'm not living in India but for sure many will raise their eyebrows on this and some will say that its better to have a negative view on crypto's rather than to be taxed.

Each sector for crypto will be taxed and the only good return on this one for the crypto community on India is they got the support of the government.

Advantages over disadvantages, vice versa.

[acheampong64]

I think that would be a positive reaction towards cryptocurrency as a whole. There are a lot of Indian traders who went into "hideouts" when the unfortunate news trended some months ago. If this will make them come back, i think it's a good option as compared to banning it totally (many feared that would happen, and that's why they sold off and left)

[permadi]

I do not see this as a negative news, sometimes financial and tax laws are hard to resist, and refer to many sectors. maybe the government expects the balance of state finances, just wait how to register assets and tax management of digital assets

[squatter]

isn't 18% too much for a tax, I believe minimum is 10%, well they should have bracket for tax implementation regardless on what amount they earned in a month, its a little bit injustice if they both give 18% tax on two person who's earning $2000 compared to $ 10000, in my part tax on our earning from crypto is not a problem at all, as long as I say we have a bracket.

I'd kill for an 18% general tax rate. Indians are quite lucky if this gets passed.

For me, day trading is taxed at my ordinary tax rate, which is almost 30% -- and that's just for federal income tax. There's another ~6% for state income tax, too.

That's why its so important to hold for long term capital gains in the US. You get taxed at 15-20% that way, but you need to hold for a year or more. So it's not really "trading" per se.

[supermine]

India, the world’s second-largest country by population, may soon give a glimmer of hope to cryptocurrency investors after months of propagating a negative agenda against the digital asset class.(taken from https://www.ccn.com/india-may-levy-18-percent-tax-on-cryptocurrency-trading-starting-july-2018/)

For Indian bitcoin traders out there, this will surely be negative news but it also means that bitcoin is being legitimized. What do you think about this and how will you prepare for it?

18% tax is little bit heavier but we have countries asking more than these rate also.But it may be negative news for the Indian traders but it is good news for the holders who thought that bitcoin will be banned in India.But still I don't hear any news about the tax implementation from my Indian friends so we have to still wait for the official announcement from governments.But if they have implement taxes means the crypto currencies will be legalized there so many countries will follow them.

[Taki]

India is well known by rough control of crypto currencies and such even can be seen as positive move. Yes, the percent is pretty high, but at least it gives freedom to crypto based business on Indian territory. I wander to hear the latest news after the law's project will really start to work.