Australia abolished double tax for bitcoin

   296

After the adoption of new legislation in the country's parliament today, a long controversial "double taxation" of cryptocurrencies - first when buying it, then when buying items subject to the taxation - is finally coming to an end.

The situation arose from a previous law adopted in 2014, which viewed cryptocurrencies as barter goods for GST purposes - legislation that quickly received criticism from technology advocates, and last year announced government officials' commitment to remedy the problem.

The Australian Senate Economic References Committee proposed to review the situation in August this year, and the Ministry of Finance first laid out new legislation to resolve the problem in the May budget.

With the omission of the new bill, as of July 1, 2018, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will now receive the same GST method as the foreign currencies, The Australian reports.

This step is connected with a broader international talk about tax processing of assets with reference to blockchain, and the various approaches of regulators can (or should) take.

Quite recently, this year, advocacy groups have taken on a goal in accordance with US tax law with regard to the application of the property law in the rule of 2014, although some states seem to be more progressive on this issue.