New York State Tax Agency: Bitcoin Buyers Don’t Need to Pay Sales Tax

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has said that bitcoin purchases will not be subject to sales taxes.
According to a tax guidance memorandum from the agency’s Taxpayer Guidance Division dated 5th December (hat tip Marco Santori), digital currencies are a type of ‘intangible property’ and, as such, are not subject to a sales tax when purchased.
The move comes months after the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released its initial guidanceon taxing bitcoin as a type of property, and provides an answer to a long-brewing question about how state sales taxes in the US may be applied to bitcoin transactions.
Only in certain cases
The document states that a sales exchange involving a digital currency would be considered a type of barter transaction. Under this definition, the agency writes, only certain goods and services exchanged for a digital currency would be subject to a sales tax or related reporting requirements.

This post was published at Coin Desk on December 9, 2014Bitcoin.