FRAMEWORK OF THE ACQUISITION/SELLING OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE VALUE-ADDED TAX

Concerning the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU, sentence 22/10/2015, cause C-264/14 Skatteverket/Hedqvist) the cryptocurrencies (ex. «bitcoin») don’t have “other purposes rather than being a means of payment” as other traditional currencies, having a legal act. Hence, the exchange of traditional currencies in a virtual currency (in this specific case, bitcoin) and vice versa, completed by a specialized operator coping with the repercussion of a margin represented by a financial operation, are currencies accepted from entities of a transaction as a means of alternative payment, as the means of legal payment and should not have other purposes rather than being a means of payment. Therefore, they should also be relevant to value-added tax purposes, however, fundamental between exempted operations “related to separated, banknotes and currencies with a freed value” of which art. 135, par. 1, lett. e, of Directive 2006/112/CE.

The affirmed principles of the CJEU have been recovered from the Italian Tax Authority in the Resolution n.72, on the September 2nd 2016 in which, after highlighting that “the above sentence of the Court of Justice of the European Union necessarily constitutes a reference point on the fiscal discipline applicable to virtual currencies ”, has affirmed that the activity of acquisition/selling of  bitcoin has to be considered relevant to value-added tax purposes, which services exempted ex art. 10, primo comma, n. 3, del D.P.R. n. 633/1972.

The staff remains at complete disposal for any clarification.