BITCOIN Ruling a Death Knell? | Planned Giving Design Center

BITCOIN Ruling a Death Knell? | Planned Giving Design Center: For those that wanted to hide from taxation by trading Bitcoin for goods and/or services, the IRS has indicated it will be reportable as any other barter transaction. There will be trading risk in every transaction in such a way that the thought of utilizing Bitcoin or any of the other alternative currency surrogates will become unpalatable and unwieldy. Essentially, the wind has been permanently knocked out of the sails (or, is that sales?).

For the non-profit world, this may be a non-event, though I’m certain a few charities have been preparing their websites to accept gifts of Bitcoin. Actually, if there was any level of trust in the Bitcoin economy, a gift to a charity of appreciated Bitcoin would at least avoid capital gains tax and produce a charitable income tax deduction. I’m waiting for the first charity to begin that campaign. I think I’ll be waiting a while.