The United Kingdom’s tax authority, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has detailed it doesn’t see cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as money or as currency.
According to its updated cryptocurrency taxation guidelines for individuals and businesses, cryptocurrencies are also generally not considered “stock or marketable securities.” The updated guidelines read:
It is important to note that HMRC does not consider any of the current types of cryptoassets to be money or currency. This means that any Corporation Tax legislation which relates solely to money or currency does not apply to exchange tokens or other types of cryptoasset.
The guidelines detail that even though HMRC doesn’t look at cryptocurrencies as if they were currency or money, this means they’re largely exempted from stamp taxes, although these apply in certain cases.
Moreover, the UK’s tax authority detailed cryptocurrency exchange tokens, like Binance’s BNB or OKEx’s OKB, can be seen as “stock or marketable securities” or “chargeable securities,” which would make them fall within the “scope of Stamp Duty or Stamp Duty Reserve Tax.”
The document details, nevertheless, whether they are considered stock, marketable securities or chargeable securities, is to be determined on a case-by-case basis “dependent on the characteristics and nature of the cryptoasset.”
Per these updated guidelines businesses will be required to keep records of their cryptocurrency transactions – even if crypto-to-crypto – in pounds sterling, as well as records of the valuation methodology determining their valued in GBP.
HMRC’s cryptocurrency taxation guidelines were initially published in December of last year, to clarify various taxation issues for both individuals and businesses. The 2018 guidelines also asked individuals to keep records of their crypto transactions in GBP.
Featured image by Simon Migaj on Unsplash.
