Cryptocurrency for accountants Part 3: Tax implications

DAVEN ROBERTS

CAW Network USA’s David Nickson shares the latest thinking on the tax implications of buying / selling cryptocurrency.

The third and final installment of “Cryptocurrency for Accountants” took place on September 30th. CAW Network USA’s own David Nickson, Principal with EY, and leader in Tax, Technology and Transformation, leads this webinar. In his presentation he focused on the tax policy and compliance challenges that arise with cryptocurrency. This becomes especially complex when the difference between a global backdrop and a country-level backdrop are taken into account.

Before diving into the spotlight moment of the webinar, here is a brief biography of our presenter, David Nickson:

David is a commercially focused partner with over 20 years tax, financing transactional and technology experience. He is a Chartered Accountant (Fellow, ICAEW), Chartered Tax Adviser (CIOT), Six Sigma Black Belt and IRS Enrolled Agent. He specializes in the integration of technology (SAP, Oracle, Intelligent Automation, RPA, big data/analytics etc.), accounting/controllership needs, and tax requirements to increase the efficiency and robustness of E2E business processes, with experience across multiple industry sectors and geography. The business case justification for addressing tax requirements in a holistic manner extends across the organization to include treasury (cash flow enhancement), FP&A (profitability insights), finance operations (process efficiency), internal audit (enterprise risk mitigation), supply chain/logistics, and IT strategy.

Below are highlights from the event:

David begins his presentation by examining how cryptocurrency may fit into the tax landscape. He uses some quotes to demonstrate the difficulty of this intersection, and how much change has truly occurred in just the past few years.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are an area where regulators are currently examining how to apply existing regulatory laws. David brings to light the current crackdown in this landscape and how regulators have worked to hold tight legislation in the cryptocurrency field.

The taxation issues that come with cryptocurrency emerge with a lack of consensus in international tax base. However, David sees this as an opportunity for change and the natural course of adoption for taxation laws. He also ensures the audience that conditions are emerging to regulate these areas.

David highlights the key considerations that the OECD presented to policy makers when it comes to taxing virtual currencies. In this section, he draws a parallel from cryptocurrency to any other physical asset, and how both bring similar taxable events in different forms.

The full webinar of part one, two and three of this series can be found here: