Ben Elliott (Pump Court Tax Chambers) considers recent rulings and principles for the VAT treatment of cryptoassets and transactions taking place in virtual worlds.
Ascertaining the correct VAT treatment of a new generation of digital assets and transactions always has the potential to cause difficulty but presents an even greater challenge given the dearth of guidance and case law. Even HMRC’s Cryptoassets Manual (originally published in March 2021) still contains only one page relating to VAT and there are no UK cases concerning the VAT treatment of cryptoassets. However there have been some non-UK rulings (both judicial and non-judicial) which provide valuable insight of the nature of these transactions and how they should be analysed for VAT purposes.
Dealing in cryptocurrencies
The original case concerning the VAT treatment of cryptoassets is Hedqvist (Case C-264/14). Mr Hedqvist planned to operate a website through which users could...
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Ben Elliott (Pump Court Tax Chambers) considers recent rulings and principles for the VAT treatment of cryptoassets and transactions taking place in virtual worlds.
Ascertaining the correct VAT treatment of a new generation of digital assets and transactions always has the potential to cause difficulty but presents an even greater challenge given the dearth of guidance and case law. Even HMRC’s Cryptoassets Manual (originally published in March 2021) still contains only one page relating to VAT and there are no UK cases concerning the VAT treatment of cryptoassets. However there have been some non-UK rulings (both judicial and non-judicial) which provide valuable insight of the nature of these transactions and how they should be analysed for VAT purposes.
Dealing in cryptocurrencies
The original case concerning the VAT treatment of cryptoassets is Hedqvist (Case C-264/14). Mr Hedqvist planned to operate a website through which users could...
If you or your firm subscribes to Taxjournal.com, please click the login box below:
If you do not subscribe but are a registered user, please enter your details in the following boxes:
