22 Jan 2014 / Bloomberg – Bitcoin is making an art critic out of the Swedish taxman.
The largest Nordic economy is set to reject Bitcoin and its competitors as a currency and instead give the software the same tax treatment it would an antique Persian rug or a painting by Andy Warhol.
“Currencies are traditionally tied to a central bank or a geographic area,” Olof Wallin, an official at the Swedish Tax Agency who’s drafting rules for Bitcoin and the programmers who generate it, said in an interview. The Stockholm-based agency will probably “view Bitcoins as what we call another asset — just like art or antiques.”
Since its 2008 creation, Bitcoin has challenged assumptions of what money is. It’s also captured the attention of regulators, who are struggling to keep up as people use the software to pay for everything from university tuition to cups of coffee to senate campaign donations.
Sweden is leaning toward an interpretation of Bitcoin that will allow the nation to charge capital gains taxes on any transactions using the software. The move would place Bitcoin in an asset class that includes antiques, jewelry, stamps and copyrights….. Read more
