A bipartisan infrastructure deal is slated for review in the U.S. Senate, with measures on cryptocurrency taxation aimed at augmenting the $550 billion investment into transport and power infrastructures. The infrastructure deal proposes stricter implementation of regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies and digital assets. With the provisions defined within the deal, an additional $28 billion will be collected directly from cryptocurrency transactions based on year-on-year projections.The section defining renewed restrictions and taxation for cryptocurrencies and digital assets was hastily added to the deal, following heated disagreements between Republicans and Democrats on the subject of spending categories.
Crypto associations based in the U.S. reacted negatively to the proposed measure, with concerns that the measure would force U.S. crypto companies to operate elsewhere given the new restrictions.
“It’s hugely problematic, we’re pushing every lever right now to change it.” says Kristin Smith, executive director of the Blockchain Association, a crypto trade group based in Washington.
The proposal follows a prior disclosure and proposal back in May filed by the U.S. Treasury to tax crypto transactions above $10,000. If implemented, the new measures would require crypto brokers, exchanges, and firms, to file and log reports on transactions involving cryptocurrencies and digital assets, with nominal inclusion for virtual currencies as defined by current regulations.
These logged reports from crypto and crypto-related businesses would then be submitted to the Internal Revenue Service for due documentation, with a new additional line added in 2020 for Form 1040 (Individual Tax Return/ITR). This measure is slated to augment current regulatory frameworks for fiat transactions over the same transaction threshold.
“Despite constituting a relatively small portion of business income today, cryptocurrency transactions are likely to rise in importance in the next decade, especially in the presence of a broad-based financial account reporting regime,” the U.S. Treasury claimed in a previous statement.
The new taxation measures are also predicated on a previous statement from the Internal Revenue Service in which officials claimed that the crypto industry has increasingly become a haven for tax violators to evade dues from the U.S. government. Increased regulatory oversight on cryptocurrencies has been a priority for members of both the Republican and the Democratic parties, with U.S. President Joe Biden’s Treasury Department leading the calls to change crypto policies alongside Senator Rob Portman (Ohio) representing the Republicans on the infrastructure proposal series.
“Everybody’s been talking about the appropriate way to provide more reporting in particular and that leads to better compliance,” Portman recently stated.
According to Portman, concerns over the actual state of transparency from and for the crypto industry has rolled over to build some tension in the Congress, leading to the new taxation measures to be added to the infrastructure deal.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
