Errata.
A clarification based on my first point:
It's not that I'm evading taxes per se, but rather that I'm avoiding paying the surcharge by using international payment methods. Since Bitcoin doesn't go through Visa/Mastercard or local banks, this withholding doesn't apply. Legally, it's not evasion; it's using another channel.
Legally, that's irrelevant and "using another channel" without paying taxes is still tax evasion. You buy a thing, the seller has to pay value added tax. For digital goods that's hard to track, but it still applies. If you buy pizza with your coins, that pizza joint has to pay taxes on that sale.
The involvement of a credit card company has absolutely no influence on this situation.
It goes further. You and the seller, when exchanging coins for real money might face additional taxes, if the coin changed worth.
There are many, many reaons, why coins are a terrible idea. I get the desire to have something independent. But having an alternate currency does not exempt you from laws regarding payments, taxes and all things regarding money.
Imagine paying with gold coins. Real, metal coins. Do you think the business you buy from would not have to report the sale and pay taxes on that sale, just becaue you paid with valueable metals?
But maybe there are things lost in translation. There are fees from credit card companies that are not taxes, but fees. Taxes are what the governments want. Fees are payment to the credit card company for their services. The fee for a bank to bank transfer internationally is around 20+ dollars. The fee for a bank to bank transfer inside a country is typically near 0. The fees for services like credit card companies and paypal are roughly 30 cents plus 3%.
Oh, and there are fees for a transfer inside a coin system. It's what's supposed to keep the coin alive. Those fees ain't cheap either. Fees won't go away, just because you use crypto.
1. I appreciate the respectful tone in the response. It's appreciated in any debate or exchange of opinions. :-)
2. France, no, it's a joke. But sorry for the wall of text.
3. It's not tax evasion to pay with a payment method that doesn't have taxes applied to it.
Actually, a brief clarification, since (I think) we're getting confused about the terms. Tax evasion consists of, for example, hiding income, assets, etc. from the corresponding authority to avoid paying taxes. And tax avoidance consists of using legal tricks to pay less tax. (Having everything declared before the law). The first is illegal, the second is not.
An example of evasion is if you have an unregistered job, you're paid in cash, and no one (from the government) knows that you work for that person (your employer doesn't pay taxes for you, nor pension contributions, social security, or anything). Example: A guy knocks on your door and asks if you want him to mow your lawn. You agree and pay him in cash, and only you and him know about all of this. This is illegal.
What I'm saying is closer to: State A increases taxes on importing companies, then those companies move to State B, which charges less taxes (or don't even do it at all). This is legal.
In my case, I'm not breaking the law because: A) My money comes from a registered job and is deposited into a state bank. B) I make a transfer from that bank to a registered exchange to buy Bitcoin. C) From there, I buy the Steam card from an international online store, load that balance, and buy those games (this isn't illegal).
'You and the seller might face additional taxes when exchanging coins for real money if the coin changed value.' <- Only if there's already a law requiring you to do that. In my case, there isn't.
'There are many, many reasons why coins are a terrible idea.' <- For example? Instability, the initial learning curve, the risk of losing my private keys? These are risks that I (as an individual) choose to take in pursuit of a deflationary currency that the government can't forcibly take away from me. I understand that many people don't want Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, and I don't want to convince or force anyone to use them. (Just as I wouldn't want to be forced to use a payment method or currency I'm not comfortable with.) What I believe is that, as much as possible, people should have the freedom to choose.
'But having an alternate currency does not exempt you from laws regarding payments, taxes and all things regarding money.' <- Yes, I'm not saying otherwise (I already explained it before) Bonus track: This depends on the legislation of the country you are in. If the country I am in has more lax laws regarding the use of cryptoassets, (or for example, none at all) I am not breaking any laws.
Based on the example of the pizzeria and the sale of digital products. Yes, every seller has to pay taxes. But those taxes are already included in the price you're paying. No one pays anything out of pocket. (Well, yes, the end consumer, since they don't resell it.) The price of every single thing you see, whether it's a pizzeria, a supermarket, or a digital store, already includes all the costs involved in putting that product on sale. If you buy, say, a pair of headphones, for example, the chain goes something like this: The importer buys the item -> resells it to the distributor -> the distributor travels to the store in your city (in the process, they'll spend on fuel, the cost of which is distributed among the products they resell) -> The store puts the product on sale, and then the person who buys it to use, not resell it (the end consumer) is the one who pays for the entire chain. (Every percentage of profit margin, fuel, taxes, commissions, etc., of each 'link' in the chain)
'Imagine paying with gold coins. Real, metal coins. Do you think the business you buy from wouldn't have to report the sale and pay taxes on that sale, just because you paid with valuable metals?' <- If the business accepts that payment method, chances are they're already charging me everything I explained above.
'Oh, and there are also fees for transfers within a cryptocurrency system. That's what's supposed to keep the currency alive. Those fees aren't cheap either. Fees won't disappear just by using cryptocurrency.' <- Yes, it's the transaction fee. Basically, what a 'miner' does is process groups of transactions (blocks), and if they succeed, they get paid all the fees for each transaction in that block. Fees can range from a few cents to a few dollars, depending on basically two factors: 1) network saturation. 2) priority. (You can choose to pay a high fee if you want the transaction to be processed within 10-15 minutes, or a lower fee that takes more than 30 minutes to process.) With LN (a way of transferring Bitcoins that works 'on top' of the blockchain), the network fee is reduced (in many cases, transactions are free) and is fast, in just a few seconds. (Although it is recommended to use it for small transactions, such as buying games or bread.)
Wait, did you read this far? dude, respect. :-) also, sorry again for the wall of text.
