A Japanese lawmaker has proposed a number of changes to the current taxation regime in order to encourage adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country, CoinDesk reported.
Takeshi Fujimaki, a representative of political party Nippon Ishin, said in a meeting held earlier this month that the country’s tax system should not “crush the future” of digital currencies and blockchain technology, and recommended four amendments to promote the wider spread of cryptocurrency into society.
Firstly, Takeshi suggested that there should be a separate tax rate of 20% on crypto gains instead of current up to 55-percent rate because gains from cryptocurrency trades are not stable like salary income and there are chances of incurring losses. Accordingly, gains from cryptos should be taxed on par with other investment options in the country, such as stocks and mutual funds, he said.
Secondly, the lawmaker recommended that it should be permissible to carry forward losses from cryptocurrencies in order to have a “fair” system.
At the moment, if you make a loss in one year and profit in the next from cryptos, you still need to pay tax on the gains that you made in the second year with no allowance for the previous loss. However, in the case of other investment types, such as stocks and property, Takeshi said, taxpayers can deduct losses from the total profit and pay tax on the difference.
Thirdly, there should be a tax exemption for trading between two cryptocurrencies. For example, presently when you trade between, say bitcoin and XRP, you need to pay taxes if you made a profit.
Lastly, Takeshi said that in order to increase small payments in virtual currencies, there should be a tax exemption in that area too. For example, currently, when a person pays at a restaurant with bitcoin, they’d need to pay tax on the profit at conversation from fiat to crypto, if any.
However, this may hinder the use of cryptos for payments, Takeshi argued, saying:
“If you do everything like this, you can not hope for penetration of virtual currency settlement in real society. The small amount of virtual currency settlement should be tax exempt, and the virtual currency settlement in the real world should be expanded.”