The ICON Foundation, creator of the ICON (ICX) project, has issued an official response to the news that South Korean tax authorities are investigating its technical partner, ICONLOOP. In a statement published on Monday, the chairman of the ICON Foundation, Min Kim, said that the ICON Foundation would not be affected by the investigation, noting that ICONLOOP is operated as a separate entity. The ICON Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland. In late 2017 it conducted an initial coin offering for the native coin of the ICON blockchain, ICX, raising over $42 million in the process. ICONLOOP is …

Lawmakers in Kentucky are looking to impose tax breaks for local cryptocurrency miners. Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday approved several state tax breaks including House Bill 230, which would remove the sales tax from electricity purchased by local crypto mining operators. According to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky legislators voted 19 to two for the new measure. The bill’s fiscal note is reportedly estimated to cost the local budget at least $1 million annually. The exact cost cannot be calculated so far because “it is unknown how many of the businesses might choose to locate here to avail themselves …

Major cryptocurrency tax compliance startup TaxBit has raised $100 million as it expands into Europe. According to a March 3 blog post, TaxBit has secured the funds in Series A round led by Paradigm and Tiger Capital. Additional investors included PayPal’s venture arm, major industry firms like Coinbase and Winklevoss Capital, as well as individual investors like Bill Ackman, Ryan Smith, Anthony Pompliano and others. According to the announcement, the new investment round comes in response to the increasing global demand for crypto services amid the crypto industry’s parabolic surge to hit a $1.5 trillion market capitalization. “The importance of …

The United States Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, has updated its FAQ section on cryptocurrency to clarify investors who have only purchased crypto assets with fiat currency do not need to report their transactions under the "virtual currency" question. The first page of U.S. citizens’ Individual Income Tax Return form, or Form 1040, asks whether the respondent received, sold, sent, exchanged, or otherwise acquired “any financial interest in any virtual currency” during 2020. As such, the form’s wording suggests that individuals who acquired crypto assets through any means would be required to answer yes to the question, regardless of whether …

Hindsight is 20/20, but when money is on the line, being prepared can give investors better foresight. Just over a year and a half ago, Investopedia reported on the panic among many crypto investors who’d found themselves on the wrong side of the taxman. The article read, “Online forums like Reddit are abuzz with posts citing possible scenarios by worried investors about pending tax liabilities for their past dealings in cryptocoins, which may now leave them poorer.” As Bitcoin’s (BTC) price soars and investors flock to crypto to cash in, legislators and regulators around the world are taking notice. Most …

South Korea will implement a 20% tax on Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency profits starting Jan. 1, 2022. The nation’s Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that profits made from both trading and holding cryptocurrencies will be subject to the tax, reported the Korean Herald on Monday. The tax will be triggered when profits made from cryptocurrencies exceed 2.5 million won, or roughly $2,300. Gains made up to this point will be tax-exempt. South Korea previously aimed to levy the tax starting in 2020, but pushback from cryptocurrency enthusiasts and lobbyists saw the government delay the implementation of the tax several …

The Swiss canton of Zug now allows its residents to pay taxes in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Bitcoin Suisse, a local crypto broker that enabled the new opportunity in partnership with the canton, announced Feb. 17 that the crypto payment option has rolled out this week. The administration of the canton of Zug placed an official memo for the new tax payment option on its official website, providing detailed video instructions for paying tax bills with crypto. “This step forward for crypto adoption has been enabled by the pioneering work from the Zug cantonal tax office using …

Russian lawmakers are actively preparing new legislation for taxing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). According to an official announcement by the Russian State Duma, the Duma’s Committee on State Building and Legislation has approved a bill on cryptocurrency taxation on Feb. 15. The new bill represents a set of amendments to the Russian federal tax code. As part of the draft bill, the Russian government officially recognizes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as property, aiming to tax profits from crypto trading by Russian residents. The bill targets all domestic residents including citizens and foreigners, as well as Russian and international organizations established in …

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has proposed an official resolution that would see Bitcoin (BTC) become an acceptable payment instrument in various parts of the city's administration. Announcing the news on Twitter, the Mayor said that the city commission has supported the resolution, and is now taking next steps: “I wanna thank the city of Miami commissioners for supporting my resolution, which directs a city manager after analysis to procure a vendor to be able to offer our employees to get a percentage of their salary in Bitcoin; allows our residents to pay for fees in Bitcoin.” The resolution would also …

A new non-profit aiming to fund Bitcoin development education and research has been approved for special tax status, conferring benefits on donors. Brink, which launched in the fall, has been approved as a 503(c)(3) organization according to a Feb. 10 blog post. The status both exempts Brink from federal taxes and provides some interesting benefits to donors, especially considering their use of Bitcoin. Donations to 503(c)(3) organizations in the U.S. have always been an important tax write-off, but considering the long-term confusion over the IRS seemingly asking for Bitcoin users to pay capital gains taxes on any use of Bitcoin …

The taxation of cryptocurrency is no longer just a young person’s problem. That changed the day the United States Internal Revenue Service made cryptocurrency a focal point of enforcement and added a crypto disclosure question on its Form 1040. Unsuspecting parents with dependent children should be on guard. The IRS is looking for noncompliance, and crypto questions create a possibly perjurious trap. Noncompliance may be sleeping in the basements of many unwary parents. As of October 2019, nearly 40 million Americans own some form of cryptocurrency, and the average account value is over $5,000. And Google Analytics data shows that …

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer has called for more precise tax guidelines regarding cryptocurrency earnings, after a report he commissioned from the Law Library of Congress showed a stark disparity between regulatory approaches taken by various tax authorities around the world. The 128-page study examines cryptocurrency tax laws in 31 nations, paying particular interest to their applications concerning coins and tokens earned through mining and staking. As the report notes, many countries have already established specific rules for coins earned through mining, but only five have laid down any guidance for would-be stakers. Of the 31 jurisdictions included in the study, …