COPENHAGEN: No one pays more tax, as a percentage of GDP, than the Danes. So in the country with the world’s highest tax burden, officials are eager to ensure they don’t miss out on potential revenue as bitcoin goes mainstream.As a first step, the Danish tax authority this year asked the tax board to decide whether using bitcoin constitutes speculation.Back in 2014, Denmark decided bitcoin wasn’t a currency, meaning it initially wasn’t possible to tax under capital gains rules. “But as a politician I can also see some pretty huge challenges.”The governor of Denmark’s central bank, Lars Rohde, has been more outspoken. Norway is set to cut its rate to 23 percent from 24 percent.In February, Norway ruled that bitcoin is exempt from value-added tax.Finland, the Nordic region’s only euro member, has been treating bitcoin as a commodity since 2014. But bitcoin proceeds have been subject to Finnish tax longer than that.The Finns introduced guidelines on how to tax virtual currencies as early as August 2013.Finnish capital gains taxes can be as high as 34 percent.

Source: The Star December 21, 2017 01:51 UTC