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118 sats \ 7 replies \ @scottathan 4 May 2023 \ on: Using Bitcoin has legal consequences bitcoin
That is a big concern, and I think that most merchants have taxes as the biggest concern. Hard to get around.
The good thing is, if you buy something directly in BTC (ie, I buy a proverbial coffee by sending sats to the merchant w/o a conversion to dollars) that is not considered a taxable event in the US (beyond sales tax).
At first when trying to orange pill people in my community I tried spreading it to as many merchants as possible. Did not work. But after a lot of study and experience I've found that the best option is helping a small, interconnected group of people become convinced of Bitcoin, and then spread it slowly through social networks.
You raise an interesting point. I was under the impression that your coffee example above would be a taxable event, unless you, say, purchase some btc on cash app and then immediately pay the coffee vendor with it. I you buy btc you have been hodling, on the other hand, you would owe the gain on the transaction regardless of whether you pay in btc or fiat. I'm not a tax expert, and I could be wrong about this.
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Yeah, I got it wrong, apparently that is technically a taxable event.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/040515/are-there-taxes-bitcoins.asp
If you receive sats as payment it counts as income, which makes sense. But if you buy something they also count that as capital gains, which is stupid and probably a nightmare to figure out.
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As capital gains you are OK up to $89K or so... that's a lot of coffee IMHO :-)
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Oh, didn't notice that lol.
Also, bold of you to assume I'm not buying 3 BTC worth of coffee :P
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lol... I stand corrected :-)
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Exactly, from a simple person's view, the laws are dumb in this regard. It makes no sense. I feel like the state is stealing from me if they want me to pay tax on spending bitcoin.
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Of course you feel like the state is stealing from you. They are, in fact, stealing from you several times. They tax you when you earn, when you save, when you invest, and when you spend. In their eyes, why should they give away such power? They see bitcoin as a tiny thing. If they change their minds at some point, it won't be out of benevolence, but because they won't have a better choice.
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