Australian Government Outlines Three Solutions to Double Bitcoin Tax

In March, the Australian government released a multi-faceted policy statement on financial technology that included items on both digital currencies as well as broader blockchain applications.
Included in the policy statement was a declaration from the Australian Treasury that it would seek avenues to reduce the goods and service tax (GST) effectively applied twice to bitcoin users in the country, both when they purchase digital currency from a seller – an event that triggers GST – and again if they go on to use it to make a purchase.
Earlier this week, the government released a discussion paper that outlines possible fixes to the situation. Produced by the Treasury, it draws insights from a report prepared by the Australian Senate.
One option, according to the government, is to make digital currencies an “input taxed financial supply” – similar to to how the trading of shares and loans is taxed.
The report states:

This post was published at Coin Desk on May 5, 2016.