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[이데일리 김보겸 기자] You can buy a Tesla car with bitcoin, but a warning comes out that it can be more expensive than buying cash. If the price of bitcoin rises more than when you bought it, it’s because you have to pay taxes.
On the 24th (local time), CNBC said that payments for Tesla vehicles in bitcoin could be more expensive as a result, as capital gains tax must be reported and paid to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). By IRS, buying with bitcoin is like selling bitcoin, converting it into cash, and then buying a car with that money. The IRS classifies virtual assets such as bitcoins as assets, and when selling them or buying products with bitcoins, you must pay taxes according to the increase in value, like stocks.
For example, if a person who bought a single bitcoin for $3,000 last year and bought a Tesla electric car, he would have to pay a tax on the market margin of about $50,000, minus $3,000 from the current price of Bitcoin. Accountant Ryan Rossi told CNBC, “The IRS will look at the fair value of bitcoin at the time of purchase of Tesla and compare it to the tax base of the bitcoin acquisition date.”
The tax you pay for a transaction depends on how long you hold bitcoin, based on U.S. tax law, and how much the current holder’s annual income is. If you have held it for more than one year, you pay taxes using the long-term capital gains tax rate determined by your income. If your annual salary exceeds $440,450, you have to pay 20% of the capital gains in tax.
South Korea is also planning to pay taxes on bitcoins starting next year. Currently, there is no tax on the income from bitcoin, but from next year, if you see a market price difference of over 2.5 million won, a tax of 20% is levied.
Despite the bitcoin taxation move, Wall Street is spurring its bitcoin investment. CNBC reported that Fidelity, a large US financial company, is preparing to launch the Bitcoin Listed Index Fund (ETF). To this end, FD Fund Management, a subsidiary of Fidelity, submitted preliminary registration documents for issuance of Bitcoin ETFs to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the same day. It has also developed its own’Fidelity Bitcoin Index’ to track bitcoin prices.
Fidelity issued a statement and explained the reason for the launch of the ETF, saying, “The digital asset ecosystem has grown considerably.” Morgan Stanley is also reported to have a plan to allow investment in bitcoin funds for high asset prices.