The Inland Revenue Department (IRD), of New Zealand, has made it legal for its residents to receive salaries in cryptocurrency, and be taxed accordingly.
In a bulletin, the agency published a new ruling under the Income Tax Act (in relation to section RD 3) that states that an employee can be paid salaries in crypto assets as long as the payments are for services performed under an employment contract, and are for a fixed amount and form a regular part of the employee’s salary/pay.
The “crypto asset” being paid must also be able to be exchanged for fiat currency, and must have the primary purpose of acting like a currency or be pegged to the price of one or more fiat currencies, the IRD states.
Salaries paid in crypto assets will be treated as PAYE (pay as you earn) income payments. The new ruling will apply for three years from Sept. 1, 2019.
Previously under New Zealand law, salaries were only payable in “money,” essentially the New Zealand dollar
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