Finnish HTML5 house SC5 pays salary and accepts payments as Bitcoins • Hacker News Board

Re: Finnish HTML5 house SC5 pays salary and accepts payments as Bitcoins

#31

Post by jerguismi » Fri, Mar 15, 2013, 4:16 PM UTC

hatu wrote: post #14

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The greater problem is how the employer manages to get a hold of larger amounts of BTC needed. If I were the employer, I'd be wringing my hands; for all I know they could've gotten a small fortune in BTC when they were still cheap to generate / purchase, and since then the value of BTC has sixtupled (or more). So, pay their employees without having to spend real money. I'm probably not understanding BTC though.

I'm not sure how the taxes work but wouldn't it be kind of like buying shares as a company that made good profits. It's not free money in the eyes of the tax office.

And it is not free money even if you didn't pay the taxes. Who knew 2 years ago that bitcoin would be trading now at almost $50 a pop? There has always been huge risk with buying bitcoins, since it is so new technology.

Re: Finnish HTML5 house SC5 pays salary and accepts payments as Bitcoins

#32

Post by awnird » Fri, Mar 15, 2013, 4:40 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #19

Yver wrote: post #6

That seems about as notable as being paid in Turkish lira or in watermelons. Anyone can take their salary in local currency and exchange it for something else. There's little incentive to lock part of your salary in a foreign(?) currency when they "use the daily exchange rate of the payday."

Turkish lira or watermelons aren't relevant to technology professionals.

Neither are bitcoins. Please don't assume that anyone who shares your profession also shares your peculiar political views.

Re: Finnish HTML5 house SC5 pays salary and accepts payments as Bitcoins

#33

Post by smrtinsert » Fri, Mar 15, 2013, 5:01 PM UTC

danielbarla wrote: post #22

brittohalloran wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the most volatile stock ever

Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it a commodity? Stocks are (usually) stakes in a company, whose employees are actively trying to make a profit for the shareholders, whereas currencies just kind of... sit there (and move around, more or less randomly, at least, non-predictably).

i believe currencies are traded in the form of FOREX futures, which are contracts that must be settled on a date sometime from now. they are not mediated by an exchange like NASDAQ if memory serves, its just one big crazy open market.

i would say bitcoin trading belongs in the category of DIGEX then, a digital currency exchange.

Re: Finnish HTML5 house SC5 pays salary and accepts payments as Bitcoins

#34

Post by gamblor956 » Fri, Mar 15, 2013, 5:41 PM UTC

jiggy2011 wrote: post #23

ISL wrote: post #4

Good luck doing your taxes! Seriously. Is there any simple guidance on how to figure your income if paid in BTC?

I wonder how one would go about taxing bitcoin transactions at all if there is no record that can be tied with certainty to a person. You probably get the same thing you do with the cash economy where people just make up the lowest figure that sounds vaguely plausible.

The same way they tax transactions in foreign currencies: you self-report taxes. If you don't report all your taxes, and you get caught, then you pay all of those taxes, plus interest (above market-rate interest), plus penalties, and they send you on an all-expenses paid vacation to a federal detention center for a few months or years.

Also, substantially failing to report your income effectively means that your tax year never closes, which means that the IRS has effectively until the end of time to pursue you for unreported income. (Whereas normally there is a 3-6 year statute of limitations for the IRS to audit you.)

Re: Finnish HTML5 house SC5 pays salary and accepts payments as Bitcoins

#35

Post by jiggy2011 » Fri, Mar 15, 2013, 5:55 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #34

jiggy2011 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how one would go about taxing bitcoin transactions at all if there is no record that can be tied with certainty to a person. You probably get the same thing you do with the cash economy where people just make up the lowest figure that sounds vaguely plausible.

The same way they tax transactions in foreign currencies: you self-report taxes. If you don't report all your taxes, and you get caught, then you pay all of those taxes, plus interest (above market-rate interest), plus penalties, and they send you on an all-expenses paid vacation to a federal detention center for a few months or years. Also, substantially failing to report your income effectively means that your tax…

The question is, how do you audit somebody? It's easy enough when they have bank accounts that you can look at.

With bitcoin it is like having your money spread across thousands of anonymous bank accounts which are opened by secret handshake.