Tax consequences of using alternative means of payment (theoretical and legal aspects)

Introduction: the article is devoted to the analysis of the legal nature of alternative means of payment (for the purposes of taxation), in particular bitcoin, and to the study of tax consequences of their usage (theoretical and legal aspects). The academic interest of the authors is connected with law enforcement problems, which take their origin in unique technologies making it possible to use alternative means of payment. The paper analyzes the position of the Federal Tax Service of Russia on the issue, as well as foreign experience and current case law of the European Court of Justice. Purpose: to study the legal nature of alternative means of payment, bitcoin in particular, for the purposes of taxation; based on the analysis of foreign legal regulation experience, to reveal the most common problems in the field of taxation linked with the usage of virtual currencies and their tax assessment. Methods: the study is based on the methods of comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization, and formal-logical method. Results: the article provides the analysis of the legal nature of alternative means of payment, in particular bitcoin, for the purposes of legal entities income tax and VAT; the substantiation for the conclusion that operations with bitcoin are subject to taxation; the analysis of tax consequences of particular situations; the formulation of the main principles of taxation. Conclusions: the scientific research conducted confirms that the national regulators and fiscal authorities are only at the stage of thinking over problems arising in virtual reality, including those connected with the usage of virtual currencies. There is an urgent need for legal regulation of relations which arise from transactions with cryptocurrencies. The majority of states are not ready to exclude persons using bitcoins, as well as trading platforms gaining income from the relevant transactions from the scope of potential taxpayers. Operations with bitcoins do not refer to currency operations; the authors deem it well-founded to regard (for the purposes of income taxation) operations of acquiring goods (works, services) with the use of bitcoins as operations of the barter nature. When defining VAT taxation principles, it is reasonable to take into consideration the specificity of bitcoins as "virtual goods ", which combine a number offeatures common for services and means of payment, determining the specifics of their taxation in comparison with real goods and services.