How Soon Could We Be Getting Taxed For Our Bitcoin?

The CEO and founder of Bittax, Gidi Bar Zakay spoke earlier this year to Bitcoinist at the Israel Bitcoin Summit on 8th January in Tel-Aviv about cryptocurrency tax obligations for users and how the regulatory landscape is taking shape across the world.

To start with, Zakay was asked why he decided to launch Bittax and how Bitcoin taxes differ from regular taxes.

“Not everyone can calculate crypto taxes from their own home. The regular and familiar calculation method – FIFO (First in First Out) – isn’t so simple to calculate either, but calculating tax in a way that will simultaneously represent the actual activity in coins, prevent double taxation caused by the exchange of altcoins, allow the user to present the whole image, prevent data omission and save tax payments on activity that does not reflect an actual transaction, is a complex task which cannot be performed with Excel or a simple calculator at home.”

When questioned on whether the service that Bittax offers is just for citizens of Israel or if it is worldwide, Zakay responded saying, “the service is currently active in Israel but will soon be exported to the USA and then to Europe. Our company is currently only listed in Israel, but it is expected to operate internationally.”

Another question Zakay was asked was how many people does he think will owe cryptocurrency taxes to which he answers, “when examining the activity data from the different exchanges, we are looking at hundreds of millions worldwide.”

When asked about how many people will be currently paying crypto taxes, Zakay says:

“Very few. This process will take time, for both the users and the authorities. Once the coin owners will understand that regulation will result in international adoption of the coins, and the governments will understand how to collect these taxes and how to proactively approach the users, this process will unfold naturally. I expect to see a large increase in the number of reports filed for 2018 in two or three months and an even greater increase in the reports for 2019.”

You can read the read the whole interview on Bitcoinist to see more of Zakay’s answers in regards to jurisdiction for people who don’t pay crypto taxes and how difficult it will be to catch up to people who refuse to pay.

What are your thoughts? Let us know what you think down below in the comments!