The inhabitants of the small town and municipality of Zermatt in Switzerland can officially pay taxes in Bitcoin (BTC). Zermatt is a small town in the canton of Valais, located in the upper part of the Mattertal Valley.
In order to unlock a new tax payment option, Zermatt authorities have partnered with the largest Swiss cryptographic company Bitcoin Suisse.
Bitcoin Suisse helps Zermatt
As announced by Bitcoin Suisse, the city and the municipality began to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for local taxes and transactions from 28 January 2020.
Zermatt authorities are now able to convert taxpayers’ bitcoins into Swiss francs through Bitcoin Suisse. BS then transfers the amount in traditional currency to the municipality’s bank account. Taxpayers can pay online or via the Bitcoin Suisse payment device.
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In particular, local taxpayers will be able to pay taxes in Bitcoin using a payment device installed in the municipality’s town hall or an online payment portal. However, in order to pay taxes online using Bitcoin, taxpayers will have to ask Zermatt’s tax office directly to allow payment in the crypto.
Romy Biner-Hauser, Mayor of Zermatt, stressed that the new tax payment option is the result of increased demand for Bitcoin-based tax payments:
“An innovative, pioneering spirit is one of Zermatt’s trademarks and we are happy to support residents in providing them with the solutions they need”.
The Swiss pay taxes at BTC not from today
Zermatt is not the first city in Switzerland to accept payments in Bitcoins.
Zug was the first city in Switzerland to accept Bitcoin payments in 2016. The capital of the Swiss “Crypto Valley” started accepting bitcoin payments for certain urban services, such as municipal services, in May 2016. The payment was reportedly limited to 200 francs.
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While Switzerland continues to develop its crypto industry in terms of tax payments based on bitcoins, some global authorities have recently found this option too risky due to the high volatility of BTC.
On 8 January, legislators in the U.S. state of New Hampshire withdrew a law that would allow state agencies to accept crypto as tax payment. According to lawmakers, the initiative was “inappropriate for lawmaking” because the price of Bitcoin is not stable.
By the way, we are curious whether such a solution would have been decided by any Polish city?
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