{"id":315,"date":"2013-11-29T04:54:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T04:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.holytransaction.com\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins\/"},"modified":"2020-09-13T20:01:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T18:01:04","slug":"bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin in the UK: HMRC suggests bitcoins are \u2018taxable vouchers\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Tom Gullen described on his blog<\/a>, Her Majesty\u2019s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) seems to be classifying bitcoins as vouchers, which means VAT would be due on any sales. A 20% mark-up on bitcoin prices would make UK exchanges untenable. In addition to Gullen\u2019s statement, an independent source told us that HMRC had given them the same classification. We also spoke to Dr Tom Robinson of the UK-based bitcoin exchange BitPrice<\/a> and consulting firm Blockchain Consulting<\/a>, who recently attended the Financial Innovators Summit<\/a> at 10 Downing Street. At the time, it was said that he \u201cleft the meeting feeling largely optimistic\u201d. However, his subsequent communications yielded the following statement from HMRC: \u201cOur Policy teams\u2019 view is that these are not currency. It is our view that the provision of bitcoins is the sale of vouchers. These arelikely to be \u2018single purpose\u2019 vouchers.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

Robinson said: \u201cThis is obviously an entirely inappropriate classification for
\nbitcoin: they aren\u2019t issued by anyone, they don\u2019t have a \u2018face value\u2019
\nand they can be redeemed for a wide range of goods and services.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Robinson also posted to reddit<\/a>, saying: \u201cWe do now have a commitment from the Treasury that they will seriously consider how bitcoin might achieve official recognition in the UK. In doing this the government is seeking input from bitcoin businesses.<\/em>\u201d Any businesses that want to submit a comment should do so through this link<\/a>. HMRC told CoinDesk that \u201cThere is a VAT exemption for currency transactions but the currency in question must be legal tender. We will of course listen to arguments for alternative VAT treatments under existing VAT law.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Open your free digital wallet here<\/a> to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Tom Gullen described on his blog, Her Majesty\u2019s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) seems to be classifying bitcoins as vouchers, which means VAT would be due on any sales. A 20% mark-up on bitcoin prices would make UK exchanges untenable. In addition to Gullen\u2019s statement, an independent source told us that HMRC had given them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,542,649,678],"tags":[1201,1300,1331],"yoast_head":"\nBitcoin in the UK: HMRC suggests bitcoins are \u2018taxable vouchers\u2019 -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitcoin in the UK: HMRC suggests bitcoins are \u2018taxable vouchers\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Tom Gullen described on his blog, Her Majesty\u2019s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) seems to be classifying bitcoins as vouchers, which means VAT would be due on any sales. A 20% mark-up on bitcoin prices would make UK exchanges untenable. In addition to Gullen\u2019s statement, an independent source told us that HMRC had given them […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-29T04:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-13T18:01:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/shutterstock_145853606-300x185.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"185\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Satoshi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@holytransaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Satoshi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html\",\"name\":\"Bitcoin in the UK: HMRC suggests bitcoins are \u2018taxable vouchers\u2019 -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/shutterstock_145853606-300x185.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-29T04:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-13T18:01:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1643e2c0c2df67ae0d6eacff8a185e69\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/shutterstock_145853606-300x185.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/shutterstock_145853606-300x185.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":185,\"caption\":\"shutterstock 145853606 300x185\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/bitcoin-in-uk-hmrc-suggests-bitcoins.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Regulation\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/tag\/regulation\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Bitcoin in the UK: HMRC suggests bitcoins are \u2018taxable vouchers\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"HolyTransaction's Blog - 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