Wpływ kryptowalut na zmianę prawa podatkowego
The impact of cryptocurrencies on changes in tax law

Author(s): Katarzyna M. Gorzkowska
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Bitcoin; cryptocurrency; taxes; property rights; new technologies;FinTech;
Summary/Abstract: On 11 September 2015, the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw in the case no. act III Sa/Wa 3374/14 qualified Bitcoin’s cryptocurrency as a property right within the meaning of the Personal Income Tax Act. The stand was then upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court in the judgment of 6 March 2018 in the case with reference number Act II FSK 488/16. As a consequence, the Ministry of Finance in the announcement of 4 April 2018 indicated that transactions in cryptocurrencies, as well as the socalled tokens, are subject to income tax and tax on civil law transactions. The positions expressed in both judgments, as well as the statement of the Ministry of Finance, have contributed to numerous social protests. Persons involved in cryptocurrencies did not expect that they would be obliged to pay tax on civil law transactions. The specificity of cryptocurrencies is manifested in the use of the so-called bots, allowing the execution of up to several hundred operations per day. Thousands of users have been faced with the need to pay the overdue tax with interest, which makes the trading in cryptocurrencies unprofitable and generates huge financial losses. This paper discusses the need to adapt the law to the realities of cryptocurrencies, in times of new technologies development.

• Details
• Contents