Today was the day many Australians that dabble in bitcoin and other digital currencies were very much looking forward to. The country’s tax authority — the Australian Tax Office — was due to release guidance on the use of bitcoin. But they haven’t, and it looks like there’s going to be a delay period of another month, according to iTnews.
“It remains our priority to provide the community with the final guidance paper in time for people to complete their 2013-14 income tax returns,” said a spokesperson for the tax office, but of course, tax payers are still very much in the dark.
But despite the fact that proper guidance hasn’t been issued, the tax office asks taxpayers to not refrain from reporting the date, value, and reason for their bitcoin transactions. Unfortunately, these taxpayers won’t know how their bitcoin will be taxed.
The reason for the delay, according to iTnews, is the Tax Office’s decision to hire legal counsel from outside the agency to have a review of their drafter tax policies.
“To ensure our advice to the community is comprehensive and robust we have sought further advice from external legal counsel,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
“We have also received representations from industry bodies seeking to provide us with further information. These factors will delay the release of our final guidance paper on the taxation treatment of crypto-currencies.”
Here in the United States, the Internal Revenue Service deemed in late March that for the purpose of federal income taxes, bitcoin should be treated as property. The guidance was met with much resistance from the bitcoin community, but anger at the rules has since subsided.
And recently in Germany, tax officials have recognized bitcoin as a currency, and therefore suggest it is subject to a 25 percent withholding tax.
[textmarker color=”C24000″]Source[/textmarker] iTnews