The Court decided not to levy VAT transactions in Bitcoins
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The European Court, the highest court of the Court of the European Union, last week ruled in Luxembourg principle (albeit preliminary) for the Bitcoin community decision: The court found that the Bitcoin transactions should be exempt from value added tax. The hearing on this issue was initiated three years ago at the request of the founders of the Swedish resource Bitcoin.se
At the hearing , passed on Last week, in addition to representative Bitcoin.se Hedkvista Daniel and his lawyer attended by four representatives of the Swedish tax authorities (which, of course, were in favor of such a tax), the representative of Germany and members of the ad hoc European Commission (opposed tax).
The representative of Germany also advocated the need to introduce VAT for transactions with Bitcoin. He tried to convince the court that the Bitcoin - a niche product that he has not determined the cost and results similar arguments.
Each side had 15 minutes to describe his views on the case of five judges.
The Court ruled:
Bitcoin is a currency. Possession does not bear any purpose other than the possibility of their re-use as a currency in the future. In this regard, they must be considered as any legal currency in terms of the calculation of value added tax. Blockquote> The representatives of the Swedish tax authorities were dissatisfied with such a decision, and considered the arguments of the court were inconclusive and that the court had misunderstood the statement question.
Hedkvist, assisted by a lawyer of one of the most prestigious European firms Mannheimer Swartling, a job that pays the representatives of Swedish industry Bitcoin, who rightly judged that such a tax exemption would be beneficial for them.
Hedvkist said: "For the representatives of the business decision will be very important because it determines the size of their commissions. And for themselves Bitcoin is also very important to be able to classify them into the conventional currencies. New technologies should not be hampered by lagging obsolescent laws and regulations. »
European Directorate for Taxes (Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union) in April already exempt from VAT transactions in Bitcoins in Spain, Britain and Germany, on the grounds that Bitcoins are a means of payment or financial instrument, so they should be classified as financial services rather than property or goods.
If the preliminary ruling will remain in effect, the VAT will disappear from the operations of Bitcoins in a large number of European countries.
In Russia the status of Bitcoin has not officially defined. First Bank of leaning towards a total ban transactions with them, but then because of extensive consultations became change their minds . In addition, in a positive way about virtual currencies expressed in a recent speech, President Russia.
Source: geektimes.ru/post/259058/