IRAS, Cc. Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister Cc. Mr Tharman, Finance Minister I wish to clarify with you with regards to a point printed on your IRAS website. Basically to cut the story short. In your website, you basically say the following; 1) Bitcoin is not Money. I will extend that to every other cryptocurrency in circulation now, including and not limited to Litecoin, Dogecoin, etc. 2) Supply of Bitcoin is akin to a Supply of Services, which makes it liable to charge for GST. However an internally inconsistent statement was made, and I quote it as 3). 3) We do not need to charge for GST if the transactions involved concerns virtual goods like in the gaming industry. I want to take IRAS to task in this respect; A) As far as 3) is concerned, I want IRAS to point out where exactly in the Income Tax Act that clearly defines the following; Virtual Goods Gaming Industry B) I am interested to know why would the law specifically favors the gaming industry, as if it is the only industry that focuses on Virtual Goods. C) If GST does not apply to Virtual Goods, then there will be a lot of products and services I am selling that presently do not fulfill the criteria that it is Non-Virtual. Like Software, Ebooks, products of the mind, generally. So if there is a special exception to Virtual Goods, then Software, Ebooks and products of the mind should be classified under services that are not GST taxable. D) If Bitcoin is not money, then merely paying for a services / product using Bitcoin or any other CrytoCurrency is just merely a Barter Trade. While I understand that Barter Trade is too subjected to GST, then the question is the value. While CryptoCurrency generally has a market value as is available on the main exchanges in the whole world, it does not mean the value of the Barter Trade is valued at the market rate of the said CryptoCurrency at the point of trading. So tell me wherein lies the GST, and how shall the GST be charged. E) The most important distinction is what is the Legal Stance with regards to Bitcoin or other CryptoCurrencies? Can I argue that the most logical of looking at that class of asset as Digital Assets? F) If however you view that Bitcoin is a financial instrument, I do understand that financial instruments, like Gold, Silver & Trust Funds, etc etc is not subjected to GST. I think the key understanding we must have is what is the Legal Status of Bitcoin. Tell me what is is. The the legal conclusions are inevitably undeniable. Thanks and Best Regards. -- Raymond Ng Principal Consultant, Get Funding Chairman, Coins Community Pte Ltd
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 09:02:11 +0000
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