US Crypto Tax 2019
Written 6th February, 2019
US
States Progress
New Hampshire House Subcommittee unanimously approved a bill allowing residents to pay taxes using cryptocurrency. The implementation plan of the bill states that taxes and fees beginning July 1, 2020 will be able to be paid using cryptocurrencies. It is not yet known which taxes and fees will be eligible to be paid using cryptocurrencies, and whether both individuals and businesses in the state will have access to this opportunity. The bill addresses the need for details to be decided upon, such as acknowledgement of fluctuation in the value of cryptocurrencies, and the need for a third-party payment processor that won’t incur costs to the state. There is also a need to decide which cryptocurrency they will accept. Although in the bill they write “cryptocurrency (bitcoin)”, it is not specified if they are referring to BCH or BTC, or both cryptocurrencies. Ohio now accepts both BCH and BTC for 23 types of taxes. The bill states that a plan to address these issues will be submitted on or before November 1, 2019.
Indiana may also join the ranks of states that permit payment of taxes using cryptocurrency (including Ohio and now New Hampshire) as they recently proposed a bill to allow such a transaction for the state’s residents. The bill was only introduced last month, but if enacted, would take effect on July 1, 2019. They too have many details needed to be sorted out before its enactment.
Wyoming is also being proactive in their acceptance of cryptocurrency. They have introduced a new bill that clarifies the treatment of certain crypto assets. In the bill, they define digital consumer assets, digital securities, and virtual currencies as intangible personal property. For the latter, virtual currencies will be given the same treatment as fiat money. This bill passed its second reading yesterday, with a third reading to be held later today. The state has already passed two other cryptocurrency related bills. The Financial Technology Sandbox (HB0057) is a bill to create an environment in Wyoming to allow for blockchain and fintech innovators to “experiment/test new product and services using waivers of specified statutes and rules under defined conditions”. The second bill, Wyoming Utility Token Act-property amendments (HB0062), establishes a new asset class stating, “open blockchain tokens with specified consumptive characteristics as intangible personal property”.
Presidential Candidates
Also in the US, many individuals are launching their campaigns for the 2020 US presidential elections. Of the candidates, John McAfee is an advocate for promoting permissionless cryptocurrencies and is running his campaign from a boat in international waters. Hawaiian Representative Tulsi Gabbard is a crypto holder who is running. Senator Elizabeth Warren is a critic of cryptocurrency in commenting that it’s easy to steal and east to scam small investors. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang is accepting donations in cryptocurrency for his presidential campaign, and is gaining in popularity in the cryptocurrency community. Even former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz is considering running in the 2020 presidential race, but he is anti-bitcoin, although pro-blockchain as he stated in a conference call. Other candidates running have so far been silent on their stance of cryptocurrency. Senator Cory Booker, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator Kamala Harris, and even current President Donald Trump have not voiced their opinions on the subject.
