{"id":4510,"date":"2021-07-21T15:53:21","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T13:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.emineopartners.sk\/?p=4510"},"modified":"2022-10-27T17:17:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T15:17:49","slug":"crypto-assets-vs-vat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.emineopartners.sk\/en\/crypto-assets-vs-vat\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto-assets vs. VAT"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"vladimira

Vladim\u00edra Ma\u010duhov\u00e1, da\u0148ov\u00fd poradca<\/p><\/div>\n

Activities and transactions with crypto-assets can also have tax consequences in the area of value added tax (“VAT”), even though some transactions in virtual currencies are outside VAT system.<\/p>\n

Good news for virtual currencies<\/h2>\n

The basis of VAT legislation for virtual currencies is the ruling of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) in case C-264\/14 David Hedqvist, where Mr Hedqvist provided virtual currency exchange services (in particular Bitcoin) through an online platform for standard fiat currencies. The subject matter of the dispute was whether such supply of services can be exempt from VAT. The ECJ has ruled, that virtual currencies are comparable to fiat currencies, as both types of currency have their main function as an\u00a0exchange means. The Court therefore ruled, that exchange transactions involving the exchange of fiat currencies for virtual currencies, and vice versa, are transactions exempt from VAT as financial services. According to the judgement, we can conclude, that transactions which involve the supply of goods or services in exchange for a virtual currency or the sale of a virtual currency will be treated for VAT purposes in the same way as for a fiat currency.<\/p>\n

Move to the crypto-world<\/h2>\n

There is currently no internationally agreed standard definition of a crypto-asset, but the FATF (“Financial Action Trust Force”) defines a “virtual asset<\/em>” as \u201ca digital representation of value that can be digitally traded or transferred, and can be used for payment or investment purposes.\u201d <\/em>Crypto-asset is a general term for digital financial assets based on decentralized database technology (eg blockchain) and cryptography as part of their perceived or inherent value. At the same time, several institutions (including the International Monetary Fund) consider each asset based on this technology to be a crypto-asset. On the other hand, the European Central Bank (“ECB”) considers as crypto-assets only assets in digital form that do not represent a financial claim, financial liability or ownership right.<\/p>\n

In general, crypto-assets are divided into 3 basic categories:<\/p>\n