UK Bitcoin Holders Hoping To Exploit Tax Loophole

Bitcoin’s unanticipated surge in 2017 took the world’s most popular cryptocurrency from a curiosity vantage point to a treasured asset eyed by governments.

‘Capital gains’ is the tool for most income tax collectors when it comes to crypto. What if participating in Bitcoin was really just exuberant betting? In line with British tax law; this would simply imply that such gains would go untaxed. It’s not as impossible as it might first sound.

A representative from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) remarked: “We don’t customarily tax gambling simply because it is typically not categorized as trading income,” he said. “However, there may be situations where features such as the degree of skill and organization would make the activity more likely to be taxable as trading income. Each circumstance will be determined by its factors.”

Consumer affairs editor Katie Morley commented on the statement as being “a tax ambiguity which decreases Bitcoin investors’ gains to zero, which could be exploited by people in their returns for this tax year.” This may well cost HMRC millions in otherwise assured revenue.

Tax men and women around the world are expecting treasuries to grow after 2017’s Bitcoin gains. Research has shown how few filings over recent years were as a result of blossoming technology and lack of government minders’ understanding. Nonetheless, now the technology is taken seriously as a digital asset, most people now see it vividly as a capital gain.

The underlying factor is that 2017 has been a great year for Bitcoin and there’s no denying this. Thousands of percents in price upsurges have brought tax collectors out in multitudes. However, In the United Kingdom there seems to be an ambiguity as some crypto devotees are quick to claim. If money is made from gambling, it is not taxed. At one point in 2017, Bitcoin’s price neared 20,000 USD. For Bitcoin fans, this sure proves that it falls under ‘gambling’.

Ms. Morley quotes a tax expert as being sceptical on the question of whether Bitcoin holders necessarily qualify as gamblers. Maybe investors who experimented in fairly smaller amounts might be able to take advantage of the loophole and claim their gains as un-taxable. If not, they’re subject to taxation anywhere from 18 percent to 28 percent.

In recent months UK regulators have talked about formulating better cryptocurrency protocols. The last time the subject was officially legislated with regard to UK tax, was back in 2014. At its onset, the government saw Bitcoin and other cryptos as less of a revenue improvement tool than a new technology struggling to find its place.

Today, Bitcoin remains an asset under UK tax law. And as such, an allowance is given on the first £11,100 on which no taxes are levied.  If profits do not exceed that threshold, then Bitcoin holders are safe. And in case an individual’s Bitcoin holdings exceed that amount, capital gain is only generated at the time of profit taking, specialists agree.