Never limit your vision based on your current ressources. - Michael Hyatt
When I started to discover Steemit 1.5 years ago, the last thing I had in mind was that this network might become my real workplace one day.
Now this just happened.
I'm an officially registered entrepreneur now, and you can't imagine how excited I am about this fact! Whenever someone will ask me about my job in the future, my answer will be:
I'm a blogger and you?
To be honest, few years ago I didn't even know that this career existed!
As always in life, progress implicates a high learning curve. During the past months I've spent a lot of time studying the labor law related with cryptocurrencies.
Here's what you should bear in mind when planning to become a 'Professional Steemian'.
Getting the paperwork done - @surfermarly running from one administration to the next
Debunking a myth: Steem is not tax-free
Maybe some of you have asked themselves why I haven't done any vlogs lately.
Well to be honest, I'm extremely busy in my 'real life'. The way I do it, a vlog requires at least 2-3 hours of shooting, editing and publishing. Currently I wouldn't even have 5 minutes to record a short statement.
A lot of paperwork needs to get done to establish my little blogging business, and the administrational work flows on my island are extremely antiquated and sedate. Also we're pioneers! There are still not many rules defined for crypto businesses.
Jobs where you get paid in cryptocurrencies are still something brandnew when it comes to labor law.
And being a blogger on Steemit is even a special case within that niche, since money is neither earned through mining nor trading like it usually happens in other crypto environmets.
Still ignorance is no excuse when it comes to paying taxes :-)
Sooner or later everything will be regulated, so you better get prepared early.
The fact that most tax inspectors don't even know what digital currencies are, doesn't mean that you don't have to declare the income you generate in your Steemit account. Obviously, each country has their own prevailing laws.
As a matter of course, those countries that entered the crypto market first (like the US) are the ones who're also more advanced in regulation.
In the end everybody needs to inquire their local contact points. I've interviewed several financial experts on my island and on the mainland (Spain) during the past months, and now I feel very well informed.
We're pioneers and there are a lot of gaps and niches within the crypto world that are still neither conquered nor regulated. Still this is just a question of time. The future is only one step ahead!
Is pressing the 'redeem' button in your wallet already a taxable event?
Against the common belief, it could be one.
If you considered your Steem wallet being something like a bank account, then any deposit would be an officially registered income - thus a taxable event.
In many countries that's still part of a grey area, so a matter of interpretation.
Now if the Steem Power you're holding in your wallet needs to be declared, that really depends on your legal residence. In some countries there is no taxable event taking place until you exchange a crypto currency for fiat. Others already recognize digital coins as valid currency (including Steem) - and in that case your whole wallet would be subject to income tax.
Yet 'Steem Power' isn't actually a currency, only liquid Steem and SBD are.
Also both Steem and SBD are subject to a high volatility. That makes defining their value extremely complicated, especially when it comes to calculate taxes on a daily basis.
By the way trading and mining are regulated seperately, which means that different rules may apply here. Again, all these standards really depend on your legal residence and the prevailing law. That's why I can't provide you with universally valid details.
Remember: ignorance is no excuse when it comes to prevailing law :-)
Best of luck for your own doings!
Marly -
Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!
PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.
Original content. Quote found on quotefancy.com.
Your usefulness on a scale of 1 to 10 is clearly an
11
:D
In the U$A, the new tax bill just established crypto, in general, taxable as FOREX Gains, and nearly all other capital markets are regulated such that you do not pay any taxes until you cash out.
I do not recall your location at this time, but the slow pace of life sounds wonderful! One could cruise along with the locals or jump online and race along at hyper-speeds! Yee-Haw!!! ;)
Great Post, Marly!
Sweet! Thanks for the flowers :-)
You know what's best about my place: sometimes we don't even have electrical power, but still I'm doing business in one of the most advanced fields of technology. It couldn't be more paradoxical - don't you think? :-)
Thanks for your valuable addings, I enjoyed the read!
Life is much more lively, with the occasional paradox and anachronism thrown in for variety! I'm perhaps one of the more anachronistic and paradoxical people one can meet ;)
WOUHOUUU, finally found a surfer there ! How is this steemian surf community project doing ? How can I be part of it ? When does the next surf trip takes off ?
Glad to meet you @surfermarly. Hope I'll soon meet more children of the sea :D
Haha - welcome to the family, surfer! :-)
What about tomorrow? :-)
The surf community project is on hold currently. I'm actually waiting for the community feature to come. No idea when the Steemit Inc devs are going to implement it.
There are actually a lot children of the Sea out here :-)
You just need to follow the tag #surfing. They're all out here...
Yeah, I just realized there so much surfers already, that's so fantastic. Steemit just got a thousand times more interesting.
Tomorrow's big snow party for me, can't let them have all the untracked off-piste without me :P
I'll set a reminder, "surf trip with surfermarly as soon as possible" though !
Take care
Haha, I like your way of thinking! :-)
Following your blog now, you're right: surfers need to stick together!
I'll be skiing in the mountains of Switzerland in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to feel the snow under my feet either :-)
Actually, Steem Power is just Steem in a "Savings Account", or more like a "Certificate of Deposit", or some other vehicle that restricts the amount that you can withdraw based on a predetermined agreement.
Just because your Steem Power is not "liquid" doesn't mean that it is not still "Steem", or income, or an asset.
When discussing financials, "realizing income" or gains is important because, depending on the laws of your residence, once you "realize" income or a gain, you MUST report it as income or a gain.
Anyway, without going too deep into the details, Steem Power IS Steem, and IS an asset / income / gain from the moment that it hits your wallet.
Cheers! :)
Great addings here! Thank you.
How would you calculate a Steem Power price? Is it equal to Steem or SBD, or the average value of both? How do you declare the income then? If SP was taxable, we would need to track every single redeem event with the according price at this specific point in time. Considering the high volatility of the Steem/SBD prices, that'd be like sports :-P
I think I should become a Steem tax accountant! That might be the best paid job on this blockchain in a couple of months/years...
Internal Revenue Notice IR-2014-36 IRS Virtual Currency Guidance. The gist of it was that for tax purposes crypto is taxed as property.@surfermarley the reality is there is no tax free lunch for those subject to US tax laws - including expats (although with expats some foreign income exclusions may apply). The IRS did release some cursory guidelines around cryptocurrency transactions on March 25, 2014 with
If an individual earns rewards here, the IRS views that as earning taxable income. The writer is paid in property with a determinable fair market value, and that would need to be recognized as income. Curation rewards earned would be treated the same as would Interest earned from locking up STEEM as STEEM Power. You are correct about needing to track every single event, but respectfully, the sports analogy is incorrect. You can fairly value STEEM at the close of each trading day from exchanges such as Bittrex (both for earning and spending purposes). CoinTracker Info is an awesome application to help keep these records.
In terms of deferring tax liability associated fom crypto to crypto trades based upon a 1031 like property exchange, I council those whom I advise not to. The reason is under that subsection of the tax code, a series of exemptions to that rule could apply to crypto and disqualify the exemption, so you'd potentially owe back tax, fines and interest. Case in point, the DAO was ruled by the SEC as an unregistered security, which would disqualify any 1031 tax deferral on DAO tokens because securities are one of those listed exclusions. The SEC even commented each token offering would need to be ruled on a case by case basis. Some blockchain governance models (POS and DPOS) have the potential to have the crypto be ruled as interest or interests in a partnership, which would invalidate the 1031 claim as well.
I'm going to be giving a Crypto Tax Workshop for Beginners through the Rocky Mountain Steemit group and I've been asked by @aggroed to broadcast it on MSP Waves. If you or anyone else is interested, I have a blog post with all the details.
So you are the one here that's really well informed! Excellent addings, thank you!!
Also I love the idea of a crypto tax workshop, that's exactly what we need here.
I'll check out your blog!
Steem power converts to Steem, so that would be your basis.
@arcange's SteemSQL database has the witness quotes of the value of Steem, which are updated very often. You can find spot values for Steem there.
I'm not sure how to consider Crypto for taxes yet. I know some is property and some is capital gains upon conversion in the US. I'm sure there will be more information on the interwebs for me before tax time is over here in the US.
Gain? I disagreed with that view. Let's say a steemian last week had to declare his/and or her tax, a total income of US$ 560K, he/ and or she paid 20% or US$112K of tax, but today the same amount went down as the value of steem bearish and what once was US$560K is now US$490K total income.
That value now in a 20% tax would equal US$ 98K. Can you see my point of view? In less than a week an extra payment of US$14K for a 'gain' which fluctuate, (and honestly governments does not need this extra income from business owners) that's why, it is clearly to me, crypto must be declared as a gain only after conversion to FIAT currency.
Actually, you'd declare the initial gain this year (for 2017 results), and any losses due to price fluctuations would be declared next year (for 2018 results). You can disagree, but you'll be putting yourself at risk of an audit, and potential fines and increased taxes, if your holdings can be identified by the IRS. Especially if you ever report crypto holdings, or exchanges report that you have crypto holdings.
Realizing the gain in a Fiat currency is not actually required. Holding a cryptocurrency is treated like property in the US. When you convert that crypto into a different crypto, or Fiat, you will realize a gain or loss from your initial investment upon conversion. That's the law as I understand it. I don't have to agree with it, but that's what it is. If you choose to not report in this manner, that's your own choice.
This is not financial or tax advice, I'm just sharing my understanding of US tax law as of the last time I checked it in early December.
Interesting @evolved08gsr . Thanks for your constructive feedback, really appreciate it. <3
It looks like @lpfaust posted something above that's a little more detailed. I'm sure there's a decent amount of information on the www about this stuff, with more detailed explanations. I need to do more research myself too on the line-by-line details and requirements.
I contacted a tax attorny who advised me to only consider any crypto I sold for cash as self employed income.
Since im under a certain threshold, im only paying about 15%. But, with my deductions I get most of it back...
Congrats on being self employed!
Thanks for the insight and your congrats! Self employed income - that's the key. I'm doing it the same way.
Aaah... THERE is your time going right now.^^ Thanks for your advice. I already wondered myself, where the "tax-borders" are. Good luck to your own business!! :-)
Haha, jupp. Viel zu Organisieren dieser Tage :-)
Danke Dir!!!
Hach Bürokratie ist schon schön. Für die Bürokraten.^^ Naja. Müssen wir wohl durch wie?
Ja, das müssen wir leider. Steuerhinterziehung ist ja kein Kavaliersdelikt :-)
Well, to my knowledge there is no tax-law yet for cashing crypto-currencies. And definitely not for the Proof Of Brain Concept.
As long as nothing is officially stated here, we're still free from taxes. As no tax law can be predated! Therefore I am accumulating now, as much as I can!
Great work though, If it is your daytime job, then tax regulations need to be done first!
In Europe they already exist :-)
Belgium is known for tax evasion! It’s our national sport! 😎
Haha!
That is the best response ever
Of course follow the law and pay our taxes! Are you mad yet that some don't comply with either?
Mad?
Nice content, death and taxes.... the two noble truths.
Anyway, living as a blogger migth give you financial freedom to fin a way to reduce to amount destinated to goberments... especially in the US, where your money is being used to murder people all around the world.
Even if its part of our job to stay clean, and play with the rules, the beauty about Steemit or blogging, is that it allows you to choose in which game you will participate.
I would really love to read more from this: how to reduce the impact of taxes on cryptos income? just and suggestion!
Keep the nice work!
We may create a new planet :-)
Really appreciate your speech, steem holder will be broad professional from this platform, make the career maximize from the platform by blogging @surfermarly
did you pay some income tax on your steemit revenue already?
Really motivating post with great facts! I think i fell in love with you right away lol.
First time that someone falls in love with me while I talk about taxes - lol!!!
I hate tax ;) steemit is a big family...all of us earning
LOL - kids hate brushing their teeth... still they should learn that there are things in life they have to do regardless if they like doing them or not.
absolutely ;)
Hmmm - I think Steemit is indeed quite special as you generate these rewards as an income in CryptoCurrencies. No other crypto currency is that complicated when it comes to tax if any redeem is an event you have to report.
Speaking as someone that wanted to be the opposite of a trader for whom that made be a usual case. This was the reason I did not sell anything on Bittrex or any exchange - I just had the naive thinking I leave this in the wallet, no movements apart from powering all up and after one year it is tax free.
Now hearing all the expert opinion I was totally wrong - giving me 3 options:
1 - Ignore all the tax regulations and continue like before
2 - Just stop my account here throwing aways all keys and master password
3 - Powerdown, sell all and just pay them a tax I suggest (doing a report on all Steem Redeems etc is NOT really an option, the usual tax claim is already the most annoying thing I do yearly - that here would increase the report duration by factor 10 - hmm
WE LOVE YOUR CONTEND AND ALSO SUPPORT YOU
Nice post your fren
your writing skill is too good and good explain nice post wish you best of luck .....
When it comes to cryptocurrency, a taxable event occurs whenever it is traded for cash or other cryptocurrency or whenever cryptocurrency is used to purchase goods or services. So i guess we're already paying taxes when we trade or invest in crypto. @surfermarly
That really depends on the legal residence. There are countries where you have to pay taxes even on the cryptocurrency itself, independently if you exchange it for cash (fiat) or not.
Thanks for sharing this informative post on the legal framework for crypto bloggers.
Amazing post.Much obliged for sharing it
great information i would rather say important information which most of us steemians didnt know..most of us are dedicated steemians, planning to make it a real job so it is very important to know about all the technichal things too..
i thinks that a good information shared by you and i like the whole way of managing the information
I've only recently joined Steemit, but am very excited about the future of the site. There are enough active users to make things interesting, but there is clearly a lot of room for growth from this point.
Interesting post, I am also studying this aspect, just for not, as a business individual, be bothered by the 'taxman'.
From my own research, I believe while still in your wallet you should not worried about your tax, as soon as it is withdrawal and become Fiat currency into your bank account, yes, it should go towards your income for tax purposes. There is also threshold balance value, which differ from each country when the tax is applied mostly over US$10 k at least, which for many steemians is a far away value to be worried about, when thinking about tax affairs. <3
There are many steemians who earn more than 10K in only one months, so it's definitely an issue :-)
That's not true. At least in European countries you have to declare everything you earn - independently in which currency the income has been generated originally. That's what I've learned during my research and interviews with several financial and crypto experts. Germany is far ahead when it comes to regulation, other countries are still defining their rules. But in a couple of years that's surely gonna be equal for the whole continent.
Where did you do your research?
delicate subject which has not one right way of doing. I definitely do not want to get away from tax but at the same time it has to make sense for me and my business otherwise we have lawyers which can assist me. It is still very difficult to predict but I don't believe one country is far ahead than the other as each country has their own tax law. You can see differences between South Korea , Thailand, India and China as examples, each of these countries approaches crypto differently. It mighty be that when cryptocurrencies is truly a currency that can effectuate transactions directly that it will become necessary to declare everything that you earn independently in which currency. So far in my case, crypto does not assist my business in anything really financially speaking. I agreed with you there are steemians who earn 10K in a single month, and I wish them wealth, I am not here to worry about who pay their tax or not, everybody mind their own businessThanks for your reply @surfermarly My research was not Google based, it was more debates with colleagues who works with accounts and solicitors. That's not true as you mention is relative as I am not here telling you lies or what is not true. I am just interacting with you in a , when I mention it I was referring to minnows as I am #lol <3
i love steemit platform
it's my big family us
thanks
Your blog is very nice, thanks a lot for sharing us. personally i like business but i have no money how do i start business??? tell me please !!!... best of luck
your post is very useful, success continues friends, greetings success for you
WELL, @surfermarly!
Life is the name of Continuous Struggle and those who put their efforts in the direction of their vision they achieve the aim of their life proudly.
Those who sit idle and wait for the fate to change for themselves they are basically coward and losers in their lives. Such minds are actually are non-functional for the society as whole.
It is great to know My Friend that you are now an Official Entrepreneur
I Congratulate you on achieving this milestone.
Today i am also very happy because I became an Official Steemian by writing my Introductory Post :) and yes i will respond you back
I AM BLOGGER TOO :) @surfermarly
It is my Pray to God May this year 2018 become a year of more Peace, More Success and Joy for everyone around :)
STAY BLESSED, STEEM ON
great news, wonderful post, thanks for sharing, following up voted
Excellent topic and one I have been inquisitive about. Bookmarking.👍
Great to know some of this stuff. I don't think that I will quit my job as a doctor because I love to help people but on steemit I can help bigger community and that is why I love it.
Welcome to Steemit though! Well you're not the only doctor on Steemit, so I'm pretty sure you're going to find your sub-community very soon :-)
really nice article, very few people discuss the legal implications involved with crypto, keep up the good work.
tax i think is good, it is paid to the governments to perform activities that we don't want to perform from our pocket like security, public infrastructure, business promotion and so on.
But still tax is an issue only till adoption of crypo increases and if it becomes widely acceptable as a medium of exchange for goods and services, then governments cannot intervene even if they want to, except in countries where governments rule by iron fist like china and many more.
they would only have options to either create a crypto bank or themselves provide a similar and decentralized fiat currency like blockchain dollar, yuan etc.
that will their only chance to get into the game.
On Steemit people generally don't talk about problems. Everything is nice and awesome and Steem is going to the moon. Good news sell, bad news don't.
Congratulations in moving to becoming a full time blogger/vlogger! That is incredibly exciting.
Taxes is definitely a shady area in Ireland, where I am from - I too have just made the move to working full time in cryptos (online courses, ICO consulting and have now taken up Steemit blogging and soon to be vlogging). I spoke with the relevant authorities, as well as read up on all relevant Steemit posts that I could find in Steemit.
It's great to be working in this area and best of luck with it!
Well I'm not going to be a full time blogger since my life is not only about Steemit.
Taxes are still a grey area in the crypto world, but governments will discover its potential soon!
Thanks for stopping by and best of luck for you, too :-)
Agreed! Would love to chat more about your work, are you on Steemit Chat or Discord?
Some governments are already testing blockchain and cryptos openly! Thank you :)
heloo Steemers :)
how lucky you are, can make the steem business now. If many steemian like you, it can be make unemployed more less. isn't it ?
i think there will be nthing like taxes or anything it will be like this for ever couse no one can do that
It would be nice to see steem and steemit go far heights in the future. So far, this one is the best thing I experience in my "internet" life . I might treat this as a job too someday :)
I have never experienced tax in my life
But still i just love the knowledge or feeling of being tax-free in the crypto-world
If this is the only problem it solves, it is revolutionizing enough...
at least you did your due diligence and went out to discover how everything works.
which is more then most of us can say
I recon if I were ever to become a pro Steemian then I will look into it as well, untill then, just keep powering up
by the way, its weird seeing you with "clothes" on, and not in your surfing outfit riding those sweet waves
how is @dreamsoftheocean going by the way?
Well I prefer to be informed about these things before I get into trouble.
As I said a couple of weeks ago, @dreamsoftheocean is parked at least until March. For the planned swim training we need warmer temperatures and sunshine!
I don't have time to surf currently, that's why I don't pose in a wetsuit on Steemit :-)
Nice
Great to see you back at it! The taxman will find you anywhere if they put their mind to it! And thay always do! Ha!
Death and tax’s..
Let’s delay them both as long as we can.
başarmışsın :)https://steemit.com/busines/@new.diak/primary-job-and-spare-job-compulsory
i agree with @amirl - on a moral basis: Taxation is theft. Any service can also be delivered on a VOLUNTARY free market basis, also roads, schools and hospitals.
Governments dont creat value
humans do.
LOL - "keep using your Steem whenever you can" - you're a funny person. Where do you live? At my place I pay with Euro.
Find me a bakery store, a farmacy and a gas station on Canary Islands where I can pay with Steem, and we can talk.
In Europe tax fraud is a criminal act. I wonder how you can help me there :-)
Haha, until you said Israel I thought you were from La-La-Land.
Thanks for sharing your interesting point of view, but I'm happy to pay my taxes which are also relatively low on my little island.
Good luck for you!