Aussie federal budget reaffirms BTC won’t be treated as foreign currency

The new federal budget states that Bitcoin can fall into the “current tax treatment of digital currencies, as well as the capital gains tax treatment, wherever they’re commanded as an investment.”

The first federal budget below the Anthony Albanese led-government has made public that Bitcoin (BTC tickers down $20,597) can still be treated as a digital quality, and not taxed sort of a foreign currency.

This clarification comes in response to El Salvador’s adoption of BTC as tender in September last year, with the Australian government basically ruling out a shift in classification despite it being used as a currency in EI Salvador and therefore the Central African Republic.

The federal budget was released in October. 25 and states that BTC can fall into the “current tax treatment of digital currencies, as well as the capital gains tax treatment, wherever they’re commanded as an investment.”

“This life removes uncertainty following the choice of the govt. of Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as tender and can be backdated to financial gain years that embody 1 July 2021,” the budget document reads.

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Danny Talwar, head of tax at Australian crypto tax accountants Koinly, recommended that El Salvador’s BTC adoption has done very little to sway the opinions of the Australian Taxation workplace (ATO) and therefore the Treasury, as they need continuously maintained that Bitcoin ought to be taxed like alternative digital assets:

“Foreign currency tax rules in Australia follow revenue-based treatment instead of capital. Since 2014, ATO steerage has expressed that crypto assets aren’t foreign currency for tax functions, rather they’re CGT assets for investors.”

As such, below the classification of a digital quality, BTC investors are going to be subject to capital gains tax needs once creating a profit from selling assets.

The percentages vary as profits are usually enclosed as a part of one’s taxation with a maximum rate of 45%. However, if the quality has been commanded for extended than a year, investors receive a reduction of 50% on their tax owed from a capital gains tax event.

In comparison, the final charge per unit for profits from foreign currency investment is 23.5%, and would mark a hefty discount to investors if BTC were to be classed during this category.

“The Treasury discharged an exposure draft containing planned legislation to infix this into law,” he added.

Talwar did note, however, that not everything is about in stone for digital quality taxation laws, as a “Board of Tax review on the tax treatment of digital assets additional broadly speaking is in progress.”

In terms of financial institution digital currencies (CBDCs), these styles of government-backed currencies can fall into the “foreign currency rules.”

While the prospect of an Australian CBDC still appears to be quite slow, there are recent developments in this space.

In late September, the Federal Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) discharged a report outlining a plan for conducting a pilot program for a CBDC known as “eAUD” in partnership with the Digital Finance Cooperative analysis Centre (DFCRC).

A report on the pilot is anticipated to be discharged mid-next year, and therefore the RBA are going to be to blame for eAUD issuing, whereas the DFCRC can supervise platform development and installation.

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