New Zealand to Legalize and Tax Bitcoin Salary Payments Starting in September

Cryptocurrencies have been a hot topic for regulators in the
past couple of years, as they caught the public’s attention
following their parabolic price surge in 2017.

Some countries have even gone so far as to allow employers to
pay their employees in crypto. New Zealand is one such country,
with a ruling set to come into effect on September 1.

Paying Salaries With Bitcoin
New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department has issued a statement
which clarifies the matter of cryptocurrencies being used to pay
salaries in the country.

According to the document, there are several cases in which
employers will be able to pay salaries with crypto assets. This
will be possible when they are devised for payments for services
performed by the employee under a functional employment agreement,
whether it’s for a fixed amount or if it is a regular part of the
employee’s remuneration.

Now, this only applies to salary and wage earners. In other
words, self-employed taxpayers won’t be able to take advantage of
the ruling. Moreover, it won’t be possible if the payment is
subject to a lock-up period, and the cryptocurrency must be
directly convertible into a fiat currency.

There’s a Catch
In addition to all of the above, however, the new ruling includes a
couple of additional requirements which could be interpreted rather
broadly.

The first one is that the value of the cryptocurrency in
question must be pegged to one or more fiat currencies. This
potentially signals that legislators have decided to allow salary
payments to be carried out entirely with stablecoins.

Fortunately, however, there’s an additional condition which
should allow employees to receive their salaries in Bitcoin as
well. It stipulates that the desired crypto asset should be meant
to function as a currency. And we all know that one of Bitcoin’s
main intentions is to serve as a digital peer-to-peer currency.

It’s also worth noting that all cryptocurrency payments will be
considered PAYE payments. In New Zealand, employees are taxed
directly from their wages or salaries, and this system is referred
to as PAYE. In short, it means that you pay as you earn. Moreover,
the taxation laws will apply directly, as they do for regular
payments.

According to the statement, the ruling will take effect on
September 1 and remain in force for three years.

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Third Estate: Security Experts Advocate Community
Policing
… Warn of Danger of Posting Police to States of Origin

Security experts and community leaders have advocated for the
adoption of Community Policing as a panacea to tackle security
challenges facing the country. They said security issues are joint
responsibilities of the community and security agencies.

They made the call at the 21st annual lecture/dinner organised
by Third Estate, a sociocultural group in Ilorin Emirate of Kwara
State.

Those who spoke were Ambassador Usman Abdulazeez, a former
diplomat, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG)
Adisa Bolanta, Legal Practitioner and specialist in security
matters Abdul Hakeem Mustapha (SAN).

Speaking on the topic, “Proactive response to Security issues in
Ilorin Emirate”, Ambassador Abdulazeez, a former President of
Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), said the
security challenge experienced in the state between 2012 and 2018
was reduced drastically through joint collaboration between the
people of the community and the police.

“Through the joint efforts of the people and the police we were
able to arrest 42 cult members, many hemp smokers and hemp sellers,
ritualists and kidnappers who were operating in Ilorin metropolis
and were able to avert a religious crisis on June 3, 2018.

“That is why we were able to combat the challenge and that is
why we have low crime rate in Ilorin Emirate today,” he said.

Abdulazeez suggested that the police should emphasise on
community policing and reintroduce the 1978 model of recruitment
whereby policemen were posted to their local governments and states
of origin.

In his contribution, AIG Bolanta, said that solving security
problems was a joint collaboration between the community and
security agencies.

He warned that posting policemen to their state of origin was
dangerous because of population explosion and technological
advancement and it should be done with caution.

Also in his contribution, Barrister Mustapha, SAN, said that
adequate punishment should be given to those involved in kidnapping
with their sponsors and arms suppliers identified and punished.

He said the creation of state police would help resolve the
security issues in the country.

The President of Third-Estate, Mallam Bolaji Nagode expressed
deep appreciation to guest lecturers and panel of discussants on
security challenges.

He said the group would submit a position paper from the outcome
of the discourse to guide the government in tackling insecurity in
the various communities.

By PRNigeria^[1]