According to iTnews, leading accounting firm Deloitte has joined the Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association (ADCCA) to create accounting standards for cryptocurrency-based businesses.
Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association is the country’s leading council, representing the cryptocurrency businesses.
Deloitte director Taralyn Elliott and partner Jonathan Perkinson are leading the initiative.
Speaking to iTnews, Perkinson said,
“Deloitte has had an interest in digital currencies for quite some time, so this was a great opportunity to get involved. Digital currencies have a lot of momentum at the moment. With ADCCA, we’ll be working on the strategic, tax and regulatory changes that will need to happen, and we’ll be recommending and challenging specific changes in those arenas.”
Proper taxation of cryptocurrencies is a challenge!
Perkinson believes that bringing about a proper taxation scheme for cryptocurrencies will be a challenge in Australia since the government taxes the digital currencies as a service. Therefore, a cryptocurrency user has to pay GST for owning it and GST again when transferring it. Corporates are charged a capital gains tax for showing cryptocurrency on their balance sheet, Perkinson said.
“The challenge is to get cryptocurrencies taxed in an appropriate way.”
Cryptocurrencies cannot disrupt the Big Four banks
Contrary to the general opinion and expectation that the cryptocurrencies will disrupt the financial services industry, Perkinson thinks it’s unlikely that cryptocurrencies will disrupt the big four banks since they have positioned themselves to take advantage of it.
“I don’t see digital currency disrupting the financial services industry, but it will be integrated and complement the financial system.”
However, Perkinson views the blockchain technology as a potentially strong security tool which can work wonders for the businesses in the emerging markets. He believes that the secured public ledger technology can help prevent voter fraud or secure a bank’s customers’ credentials.
