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The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published a new taxation framework for the digital currency industry, including central bank digital currency (CBDC). The new Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) stems from a review of the 2014 Common Reporting Standard (CRS) to plug the loopholes associated with digital currency taxation among member countries. Under the new framework, tax information on digital currency transactions will be automatically exchanged uniformly in line with existing rules. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/international-standards-for-automatic-exchange-of-information-in-tax-matters_896d79d1-en

Crypto-asset taxation in major bitcoin strongholds is complicated. Contradictory or non-existent laws, excessive red tape, and maddeningly vague guidelines have conspired to make the tax-paying process more arduous than it need be.

IMF published a working paper on crypto-asset taxation. The greatest challenges are for implementation: crypto's quasi-anonymity is an inherent obstacle to third-party reporting. Design problems arise from crypto' dual nature as investment assets and means of payment: more straightforward is a compelling case for corrective taxation of carbon-intensive mining. Ownership is highly concentrated at the top, but many crypto investors have only moderate incomes. The capital gains tax revenue at stake worldwide may be in the tens of billions of dollars, but the more profound risks may ultimately be for VAT/sales taxes.

"Institute of Ghana introduced a 1.5% tax ("E-levy") on mobile money transactions in May 2022, in a country where 40% of the population aged 15 and above use mobile money platforms. It has been justified as a way to reduce aid dependence, and to capture informal economy workers. An International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) paper finds that the overall effect of the E-levy is highly regressive with users in the bottom income quintile paying the largest share as a proportion of their income, especially home-based informal workers. However, a 100 cedi/day (equivalent to about $10/day) taxation threshold has provided some relief.

The Token Taxonomy Act of 2019 would require amending US federal securities legislation to exclude crypto assets from the definition of a security, and to create a de minimis exemption from taxation for gains realized from the sale or exchange of virtual currencies.

Crypto is a matter of concern for a number of tax departments around the world - primarily because they provide people with an avenue for commerce that expands beyond today's existing financial systems. So, here are some crypto-centric economic frameworks that are being used by countries across the globe.

While some argue that taxing stablecoins doesn't make sense because they aren't speculative assets, unfortunately, until more specific guidance is issued to address stablecoins, they are subject to generic "property" taxation and will result in capital gains taxes.

This paper identifies four challenges created by cryptocurrency forks and other blockchain-based assets and provide evidence of their severity and pervasiveness. It considers three existing taxation approaches, and how they cope with the challenges above. While no option is perfect, the paper's conclusions are that the Japan's "calving" approach is the least burdensome, while the U.S. "treasure trove" approach is the least appropriate.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has updated its guidelines on the taxation of transactions involving crypto assets.

South Korea's Ministry of Finance and Strategy confirmed that the current tax laws do not support the taxation of profits earned from cryptocurrencies.

While the US still struggles to bring regulatory clarity to the world of cryptocurrencies, its neighbor, Canada, currently faces taxation issues. The country was quick to introduce crypto taxes as early as in 2013. However, the country's CPAs are concerned that tax rules might scare away future entrepreneurs.

The GSMA published an assessment of the negative impact of levies on mobile money transactions in Tanzania introduced in July 2021. This levy, which amounted to up to 5% of transaction value, led to a sharp decline in the volume of transactions. The levy was reduced in September 2021, and then again in July 2022 and September 2022, after which transaction activity has somewhat recovered albeit on a lower growth path. Those in favor of such levies, which have been introduced in other African countries, argue that it creates an important revenue stream for governments in emerging economies and brings otherwise untaxed informal sector economic activity within the scope of taxation. However, it is regressive and impacts the poorest the most. Tanzanians on lower incomes and living in rural areas particularly suffer as mobile money is often the only way to access financial services.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore is proposing to end the GST that is imposed on crypto-assets. Under the existing rules, users of crypto-assets are taxed twice when they use them to pay for goods and services. This is because the IRAS treats such a transaction as a barter trade that results in two separate cases of supply - a supply of the digital payment token as well as the supply of the services and goods paid for using the digital asset.

The Global System for Mobile Communications reported that the number of registered mobile money accounts surpassed one billion. It found that regulation that enables low-cost services for the financially excluded has been crucial to reaching that milestone. However, certain policy interventions, such as sector-specific taxation and data localization requirements, are putting pressure on the industry and may have long-term negative impacts on financial inclusion gains, innovation and achieving sustainable development goals.

Kyrgyzstan's central bank opens up crypto draft laws to public discussion The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic has completed the drafting of two bills designed to recognize and regulate the country's crypto sector. The first bill will require crypto exchanges to be licensed with the central bank, and contains reporting requirements aimed at reducing money laundering and terrorist financing risks. A separate bill introduces the concept of "virtual assets" into the Kyrgyz Republic's civil code, identifying crypto-assets as an object of civil rights, and mandates the taxation of services provided by cryptocurrency exchanges. https://www.nbkr.kg/newsout.jsp?item=31&lang=RUS&material=101398

Mobile money isn't the one easy fix to global poverty - there's no such thing - but it is an extraordinarily simple tool that works remarkably well. And yet, a decade after it first took off, it remains in many places underutilized. The evidence base for it is significantly stronger than the evidence base for popular financial access interventions like microloans. And there's a great deal the global development community could do to make it more possible in the countries where it hasn't taken off, from helping governments develop fair and limited regulation and taxation frameworks to directly dispersing money to people through mobile money systems. That sort of work isn't flashy, but it lays the groundwork for a world where everyone can save, send, and spend money from their phones - and that, the evidence suggests, can make a really big difference.

JP Koning discusses the idea of paying interest on cash, and explores three ways of doing this. The first way is to use stamping, but this means that banknotes are no longer fungible. The second way is for the central bank to sever the traditional 1:1 peg between deposit money and cash, and have cash slowly appreciate in value relative to deposits, but this imposes a calculational burden on merchants and users. Plus there may be taxation issues. The third way is to run lotteries based on banknote serial numbers, an idea proposed by Hu McCulloch and Charles Goodhart back in 1986, but it introduces the threat of bank runs (the day before the big lottery is set to occur, everyone will withdraw deposits for cash so that they can compete in the draw). JP also discusses Gesell's "shrinking money" which has recently been proposed in a Celo C-Lab paper.

The purpose of this paper is to identify a number of taxation, entity formation and operational issues pertaining to Decentralized Autonomous Organizations ("DAOs") and to suggest a domestic entity structure capable of addressing such issues, including filing and paying U.S. taxes, opening an entity bank account, signing legal agreements and limiting liability for DAO members.

Central African Republic (CAR) President Faustin Archange Touadera reportedly announced the creation of the Sango Coin and a zero-taxation crypto-hub. The currency is named after Sango, which with French is one of the country's two official languages. Through a platform called Crypto Island, the Sango will become "the catalyst for tokenizing (CAR's) vast natural resources," Touadera declared, providing no timeline or other details. In April Touadera's office had announced that the CAR had adopted Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the CFA franc, a currency the country shares with five other central African economies.

Since crypto values plummeted last year, US lenders have been luring people with paper profits to leverage them into cash by borrowing against their hodlings. And because the IRS treats crypto money as a capital asset like stocks or property, not as a currency, there's no tax bill on the transactions.