European Court of Justice, the highest court of the EU, has ruled that buying bitcoin via digital currency exchanges should not be subject to value added tax.

According to ECJ, Bitcoin is tax-exempt on the same provisions as fiat currency, bank notes and coins.

The ruling is another step towards looking at bitcoin as at a currency equally as viable as fiat ones. It is also good news for bitcoin start-ups, which could have suffered much from imposing value-added tax on bitcoin.

In July Advocate General of the Court expressed the same opinion, stating that digital currencies like bitcoin should be exempt from value-added tax.

The ruling comes as a dispute between a Swedish enthusiast who wanted to sell bitcoins on his website and the Swedish tax authority was filed to the ECJ.

The decision is to become a precedent to be used all across the European Union.

In June Switzerland also proclaimed bitcoin tax-exempt.


Maria Rudina