chepicap.com
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) have put together a draft guide related to cryptocurrency tax in the country.
The IRAS e-Tax Guide which is currently in draft is set to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on cryptocurrency payments.
The bill states: "Under the current rules, the supply of digital payment tokens is treated as a taxable supply of services. Therefore, the sale, issue or transfer of such tokens for consideration by a GST-registered business is subject to GST. When the tokens are used as payment for the purchase of goods or services, a barter trade resulting in two separate supplies arises — a taxable supply of the tokens and a supply of the goods or services,"
The bill looks set take effect from 1 January 2020, and will remove GST from digital payment tokens. Several key points in the draft state the following:
"The use of digital payment tokens as payment for goods or services will no longer give rise to a supply of those tokens. That is, if you use digital payment tokens to pay for the purchase of goods or services, you need not account for GST on the use."
The draft also makes reference to examples of digital assets, stating "Examples of digital payment tokens are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash,
Monero, Ripple and Zcash."
While the bill is only in draft form at the moment, nothing has been confirmed. However, it will be good news for businesses in Singapore that accept cryptocurrencies in future as well as for people paying with cryptocurrencies.