One of the most common questions I have to answer about cryptocurrencies is whether they are legal. From a tax point of view, however, there is not the slightest doubt. Read about that in this article.
Not to keep you in the dark, from a tax perspective, cryptocurrencies and transactions in cryptocurrencies are fully legal. This means that we can freely dig, buy, sell or breed them.
The best example showing that cryptocurrencies have been and are fully legal is the fact that we have to pay tax on income shown on crypto transactions. Polish regulations introduce a general rule that the PIT Act does not apply to revenues resulting from activities that cannot be subject to a legally effective contract.
What does that mean in practice? If the cryptocurrencies were illegal, then automatically all cryptocurrencies transactions could not be the subject of legally effective (and therefore binding) agreements. Consequently, they would not be taxed.
So if we are to pay taxes on income (revenues) in cryptocurrencies, it means that cryptocurrencies are legal!
However, some activities for which cryptocurrencies are used are illegal. Illegal activities include, in a nutshell: “stealing” cryptocurrencies (or electricity to dig them up), cheating on cryptocurrencies excavators, scamming them, evading taxes or hiding your bitcoins from a bailiff. However, this does not change the fact that the same crimes can be committed without cryptocurrencies.
What is important to keep in mind is also that illegal activities can be those that require a license or permit, or simply a specific license. The best example of such a situation can be known in our crypto sector STOs, or security token offerings. If we want to offer the so-called security tokens, then depending on the rules of conducting such a project and the capital that we want to collect, the collection itself may:
1) not be reported at all to the relevant financial supervision authority,
2) be subject to mandatory assessment of the prospectus or
3) be subject to reduced regulatory requirements.
Easy, right?
Carrying out such a collection without complying with statutory requirements may result in criminal liability. The same situation will apply to the organization of an illegal lottery involving cryptocurrencies or parafinancial activities without a license.
So once again, it should be emphasized: the cryptocurrencies are 100% legal. Only some of the activities or transactions that we carry out on crypto-currency are illegal.
This does not change the fact that in some countries outside the European Union cryptocurrencies or tokens may be illegal. Therefore, if we move our business abroad, we must always check what rules apply in that country.
You’re interested in cryptocurrencies? Maybe you’ll be interested also in other articles:
The cryptocurrencies are exempt from tax on civil law transactions (TCLT) indefinitely!
Poland: Taxes on cryptocurrencies in 2019 – 5 key changes in PIT
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