Bitcoin Creates New Jobs and Income Opportunities
By Evgeniya Gancheva, Founder 1Legal.Net
The only constant in today’s world is its changeability.
We’d better get used to it
The landscape of the working environment and labor in the last decade is changing so dynamically that increasingly leaves breathless headhunters, recruiters, HR managers and executive officers.
The mobile technologies and unprecedented freedom for sharing and accessing new markets in every corner of the world have broadened the range of possibilities for a transfer and monetization of ideas into a successful business. New business models have opened up new job opportunities and income sources.
The Internet has made it easier than ever to start a location-independent virtual business or to find work that can be done from anywhere. In the beginning, many were suspicious about digital nomads and virtual tech camps. Nowadays, one can find WiFi connection in almost every part of the world and a life as digital nomad has become a popular model of work with a tendency to an exponential growth.
The longing of the individual for freedom and flexibility has grown immensely in the last decades and the freelance work has become the preferred model for job and income among the young.
Strong interest in freelancing for bitcoin projects
Bitcoin remains the most popular of a number of virtual cryptocurrencies.
The increased interest in bitcoin as a means of payment and adopting virtual money as legal tender in more countries, have brought a lots new professions for freelancers. Currently there is a demand for bitcoin volatility managers, blockchain developers, Developers of mining software etc. Writing and editing of content for bitcoin websites, maintenance of mining software, social media posting, blogging and customer services are among the tasks outsourced to freelancers every day.
All these forms of employment don’t require ever meeting face to face.
Employers can post job offers in certain platforms that provide a media for reaching freelancers. The service encourages freelancers to establish “milestones” of set prices with employers. Thus, in long terms projects the freelancers can get paid when they complete each milestone, and the employer can give a feedback that the work is satisfactory. Most of these platforms contain escrow services, retaining certain % of escrowed funds in fees. They also provide opportunities for those looking to pay or be paid in bitcoin and give guarantees for anyone who is feeling unsure about how to start.
Accepting Bitcoins as payment is becoming more and more common. The list of companies accepting bitcoin includes Overstock.com, Virgin Galactic, WordPress, Reddit, Zynga, Tigerdirect, Stripe merchants, Tesla dealers and even Law Firms.
The majority of IT professionals (more than 50%) say that they would be interested in accepting bitcoins as payment of work.
The rise of digital currencies led to enhanced and sustained interest of venture capital. More than $100 million were invested in startup projects on the development of payment infrastructure.
Payment systems and processors
BitPay is a global Bitcoin payment service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BitPay has partnered with many large merchants over the past year including Microsoft, NewEgg, TigerDirect and Warner Bros and with processing giant PayPal for bitcoin acceptance in their Payment Hub. The company is one of the biggest providers of a payroll API whereby American employees can choose to have all or part of their salary paid in bitcoin.
Wagepoint is a Canadian payroll company, allowing employees to convert part of their remuneration in bitcoin. The system automatically exchange the US dollars into bitcoin at the current market rate.
What the Law says about the taxation?
The legal regime of bitcoins in different countries varies considerably.
Payment of remuneration in Bitcoins has created unprecedented cases for revenue administrations.
United States
The US tax authority (IRS) classifies bitcoin and other virtual currencies as property, rather than currency, and transactions over $600 are taxed the same way the Agency treats property transactions. This includes payments, gains realized from investing in bitcoins, and income derived from producing the bitcoins, the so-called “mining”. All income is taxable, regardless of source or form, unless the Internal Revenue Code specifically states otherwise.
Bulgaria
Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) has already stated that the income of an individual, generated by the exchange of virtual currency is taxable. Bulgarian NRA acknowledges the existence of cryptocurrencies and treats the outcome of transactions and deals with cryptocurrencies as income from the sale of financial assets.
The profit/loss for each transaction is determined as the cost of acquisition of the assets subtracted from the sale price. These incomes are subject to declaration in the annual tax return.
However, on close reading, it becomes clear that the said regime actually treats only incomes derived from the sale and purchase of bitcoin / virtual currency.
© 2017 Evgeniya Gancheva
Attorney at law | Founder 1Legal.Net
(*) SpringWise. Online marketplace for expert blockchain freelancers. URL
