Did you know that if you live in New Zealand -- you cannot get your salary paid in gold? Nope. Your employer, at the end of the month, cannot roll up to your desk and drop a sack of gold coins on your desk. Even if you are a pirate -- they can’t do it. It is illegal. But … you know what IS legal?
Did you know that if you live in New Zealand -- you cannot get your salary paid in gold? Nope. Your employer, at the end of the month, cannot roll up to your desk and drop a sack of gold coins on your desk. Even if you are a pirate -- they can’t do it. It is illegal. But … you know what IS legal?
What does all that mean? Well -- I can see a future where my tax returns include options for cryptocurrencies. It’ll be a rough road -- but we’ll get there.
Wow. Quite a big step. The country’s official sovereign currency -- which people use to buy bread and butter -- can be substituted by Bitcoin. Moreover, “companies paying workers in cryptocurrency can deduct income tax through the country's pay-as-you-earn plan.”
This monumental decision was originally included in an August 7 note. The same note went into depth about New Zealand's plans to allow bonuses to be paid out in cryptocurrency.
Employee’s will, of course, still need to pay taxes under the nation's income tax scheme. Also, unfortunately, the August 7th note excludes self-employed workers from switching their income to Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. So no shenanigans there.
But what a big win, huh? New Zealand just made a historic move -- one sure to be recorded in the history books. It’s "another step towards governments recognizing that actually people are wanting to be paid in" cryptocurrencies, writes Thomas Hulme, a solicitor at London-based law firm Mackrell Turner Garrett.
The Financial Times further reports that “Bitcoin currently trades at a 19-month high, surging as investors flee stocks on trade-war fears. It's still down about 42% from its record high price of nearly $20,000 per coin in December 2017.”
What does all that mean? Well -- I can see a future where my tax returns include options for cryptocurrencies. It’ll be a rough road -- but we’ll get there.
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