Any important cryptocurrency event will ultimately involve Japan because the country is the second or third-largest economy for Bitcoin. It is also the home of a massive base of influential crypto investors and traders. Japanese Yen has a hold of about 11% of global trading volume for Bitcoin, which is very close to that of South Korea.

Such massive trade volume for a country of only 127 million people is undoubtedly a big deal. Also, Japan is a pioneer in digital token regulation, acceptance, and legalization, thanks to the positive attitude of its financial policymakers and government officials. At present, any financial gain on cryptocurrency is considered miscellaneous income and is taxed at a rate of 20% to 55%. The tax rate seems quite high for many people.

For this reason, tax defaulters are rising in number, and crypto gains of approximately $93 million were not reported last year. Thirty companies and 50 individual traders are being investigated for failure to submit returns of their jaw-dropping profits made from crypto trading over the past few years. Tax authorities believe that owners of about 7 billion yen have tried to conceal their crypto business.

There was a sharp rise in cryptocurrency transaction in recent years. For example, trade volume involving major five tokens totalled 69 trillion yen in 2017, which is a 20-fold increase over the fiscal year 2016.

Fujimaki came up with the tax reform idea

The growing concern over tax evasion has prompted lawmakers to move for a cryptocurrency tax reform. A Japanese parliamentarian has already tabled a petition on the issue with both houses of the parliament. Takesi Fujimaki, the person who initiated the motion, comes from the Japan Innovation Party and is a member of the House of Councilors, the upper house of the National Diet of Japan.

He knows quite a lot about crypto trade because of his experience as a JPMorgan Chase employee and George Soros advisor. This influential parliamentarian’s proposal may stir the Diet over the matter if accepted by the parliament. Japanese cryptocurrency community consider Fujimaki as one of the best friends as he was at the forefront of major crypto-related legislation.

He also consistently pressurized the upper house to develop flexible fintech regulations. According to the official website of Fujimaki, where he appears to be the Chairman of the ‘Association to Change the Virtual Currency Tax System,’ a 20% cap on crypto tax has been proposed.

What are the demands?

Existing tax rates on cryptocurrency are consistent with comprehensive taxation, which is reasonable for stable income such as salary income. But gain on virtual currency trading is not guaranteed just like stocks, mutual funds, and forex trading.

Considering the possibility of loss, separate taxation at a rate of 20% would be reasonable for gains on digital currencies. He also proposed allowing traders to carry forward losses of any year into the following fiscal year- deducting from profits, which indicates traders may need to pay less in terms of year-on-year taxation.

Fujimaki’s website also demands no-tax on trading between virtual currencies, which is now taxable. For instance, if you buy bitcoin with ethereum, you need to settle the trading results of bitcoin at that time, and any profit would require a tax. Calculating profit and loss for a crypto transaction is quite complicated and time-consuming. A tax-free inter-currency trading policy would boost the crypto market and increase trade volume between virtual currencies.

According to Fujimaki, small payments should be tax-free as well. If a customer wants to pay the bill at a restaurant in cryptocurrency, he must settle the profit and loss from the crypto price and crypto purchase price at that point and pay tax if profit is observed. This complicated policy deters consumers from using cryptocurrencies in the day-to-day purchase.

Making small payments tax-free will thus promote the introduction of virtual currencies in the real world. The parliamentarian has held a series of meetings and lectures for the supporters of his tax reform campaign.

He has already got a massive response as reflected by thousands of retweets of his Twitter post and almost 8000 registered supporters in his website. He is likely to pursue the matter further when the National Diet reopens after elections of July 4.