WARSAW: The finance ministry of Poland last week published an interpretation of the country’s tax code. They state that income from crypto trades is subject to income tax rules and it falls under two tax brackets that of 18 percent and the other of 32 percent. What’s more painful is that the polish cryptocurrency traders will be taxed a mandatory 1 percent on the value of all crypto trades.
This has caused outrage in the country as polish cryptocurrency traders are protesting this decision by their government to levy taxes on all crypto transactions with little regard whether the trader made a profit or not. Recently they organized an online petition where they claim the tax rules have the potential to wipe out their community. They go on to say that this has the potential to set the country back in terms of developing the technology that underpins virtual currencies, the blockchain technology.
Polish ministry of finance stand on crypto taxing was published a few weeks before the April 30th deadline when polish citizens are expected to file their annual personal income statements.
More than 2,200 polish cryptocurrency traders signed the petition. They claim the new regulations means that capital invested in cryptocurrencies may be taxed many times. The prime minister of the country has called cryptocurrencies Ponzi schemes in a bid to lure away Poles from investing in them. However, the state-owned lenders and the government generally support the blockchain technology and see it as a source of innovation in the banking industry.