Swiss City of Zermatt now Accepting Tax in Bitcoin

Swiss local governments are continuing their pro-crypto initiative and now the city of Zermatt has announced that is is now accepting tax collections in the form of Bitcoin for all taxpayers living in it according to a latest news piece from Bitcoin Suisse. Zermatt is not the first municipality in the country to accept tax in Bitcoin since Zug also started accepting tax payments as far back as 2016.

More and more governments around the world are courting cryptocurrency owners to get the sector mainstreamed and into the tax net. Several US states have also announced that they are working on allowing taxpayers to pay in crypto. But, due to the complexity of the politics around the sector, not much progress has been made.

Switzerland on the other hand has had a fairly positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies in recent years. The country is now attracting more investment in the sector and old laws and regulations are being changed and adapted to fulfil the unique requirements of the decentralized currency. For this purpose, both the national government of Switzerland and the local councils are working to have a smooth working environment for the decentralized systems to grow and prosper.

The city of Zermatt has officially allowed its residents to pay taxes in Bitcoin starting from January 28, 2020. The local government will use Bitcoin Suiss to help transfer the Bitcoin into the local Franc fiat currency and then deposit it into the exchequer.

Romy Biner-Hauser, the mayor of Zermatt believes that there is an increasing demand for Bitcoin as a tax payment option. He said:

“An innovative, pioneering spirit is one of the trademarks of Zermatt, which is why we are happy to support residents in providing them with the solutions they require.”

The city of Zug as mentioned before became the first municipality in the country to accept bitcoin tax payments. Dubbed Switzerland’s “crypto valley”, Zug started bitcoin tax payments back in May 2016. However, the payment that can be made in Bitcoin was capped at Bitcoin equivalent of 200 Francs.

Other countries like Malta and Germany are also looking to offer the same service to their citizens.

Image source: pixabay.com