Canada Revenue Agency To Tax BitCoin Transactions 297
First time accepted submitter semilemon writes "The Canada Revenue Agency has started paying attention to BitCoin transactions, as it says users will have to pay tax on all transactions using the currency. From the article, "The CRA told the CBC there are two separate tax rules that apply to the electronic currency, depending on whether they are used as money to buy things or if they were merely bought and sold for speculative purposes. "Barter transaction rules apply where BitCoins are used to purchase goods or services," Canada Revenue Agency spokesman Philippe Brideau said in an email. In this situation, that means whatever you've received in exchange for your $1 worth of vegetables must be documented as a taxable gain of at least $1 somewhere. When it comes to trading BitCoins for profit, the tax man says there are tax implications there, too. "When BitCoins are bought or sold like a commodity, any resulting gains or losses could be income or capital for the taxpayer depending on the specific facts," ruled the CRA."
Already paying bitcoin taxes... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Kind of innevitable and entirely reasonable (Score:4, Interesting)
Sounds pretty silly. I moved from the USA to Denmark and things work much better here. You know why? Because the government is twice as big, not smaller. So infrastructure is actually built and maintained, healthcare coverage is universal, education is strong, the unemployed get skills retraining, etc., etc.
Re:Capital Gains (Score:2, Interesting)
It was taxed when the power company purchased the equipment and fuel to make the electricity, and again when you purchased the electricity from the power company, and again when you converted it into bitcoins, and again when you purchased some milk with it, and again when the shopkeeper paid his employees with the milk money.
Its "consistent" for sure, but its ridiculous as well. GP is right, the idea that somehow the Government needs a cut of every transaction (rather than just income tax) is absurd.
Re:Kind of innevitable and entirely reasonable (Score:4, Interesting)
Income tax? Or Capital Gains tax?
I guess it depends whether you bought them or 'mined' them.
Re:Kind of innevitable and entirely reasonable (Score:2, Interesting)
Because the government is twice as big, not smaller.
- you are mistaken, you don't know where you are.
Denmark has a trade surplus, not a 50 Billion / month trade deficit. Denmark has a tiny debt compared to its GNP, USA is in a hole that it can't get out of.
You are mistaken that Denmark has a larger government, Denmark has a much smaller government, insignificant by USA standard. Denmark is not fighting wars around the globe, by the way, it doesn't have about 85 or so MILLION unemployed people that could work if it weren't for a huge welfare state.
You should watch something [youtube.com] before you come back with other comments.
Re:Kind of innevitable and entirely reasonable (Score:5, Interesting)
It has a larger government measured by percentage of GDP: government spending equals 50% of GDP. It's true that it has lower debt, because it also has much higher taxes (around 50% of GDP as well), so it pays for its spending rather than selling bonds to pay for it.