OECD Councils G20 Nations to Develop Coordinated Tax Policy for Cryptocurrency

The intergovernmental Office of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has sent a letter to the G20 encouraging a thorough review of tax policies for cryptocurrency and other new technologies. The OECD praises Blockchain and like developments for “[giving] rise to new, secure methods of record-keeping” but laments that uncertainty around taxation “[poses] risks to the gains made on tax transparency.” There is currently no internationally recognized method for taxing cryptocurrencies. The US opts to tax them as property, while a few other countries treat cryptocurrencies in the same way as money, and do not subject them to taxation.