The Federal Tax Administration has updated the 2020 price lists, including 20 different crypto assets.
Thomas Linder
Tax Partner
The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has updated the price lists 2020. Thereby, 20 different crypto assets are also listed.
Since December 31, 2015, the FTA has determined a value for Bitcoin that is decisive for wealth tax by calculating the average of prices at the end of each year. This price is a recommendation to the cantonal tax authorities for the assessment of wealth tax. The list has now been continuously expanded over the years. Thus, as of December 31, 2020, the FTA has included the following digital assets in its price list (in CHF):
ADA Cardano 0.159035
BCH Bitcoin Cash 303.263463
BSV Bitcoin SV 144.264080
BTC Bitcoin 25476.030647
DASH Dash 77.672159
EOS EOS 2.288707
ETC Ethereum Classic 4.998835
ETH Ethereum 650.931897
IOT IOTA 0.255994
LINK Chainlink 9.935530
LTC Litecoin 110.448758
NEO NEO 12.600750
QTUM QTUM 1.962915
TRX TRON Coin 0.023613
USDT Tether 0.884341
XEM NEM 0.175551
XLM Stellar Lumens 0.113993
XMR Monero 138.366848
XRP Ripple 0.190534
XTZ Tezos 1.777169
Most cantons follow this recommendation of the FTA when assessing wealth taxes. Thus, at least all taxpayers are treated equally.
What remains unnoticed is that the digital assets mentioned are not really ""currencies"" in the traditional sense, there is limited liquidity, various stock exchanges know a transaction maximum and sales can only be settled in very small tranches because the market usually does not allow more. Capital gains can therefore only be realized over a longer period of time (at constantly changing prices). However, the high volatility to which Bitcoin & Co. are exposed within the same day must also be taken into account, which makes it even more difficult to determine an official daily closing price. Finally, there is a high technology risk. If, for example, the personal wallet is hacked or the password is forgotten, the holder suffers a total loss.
In our opinion, the principle of prudence must therefore be applied in the valuation. This can also be derived from the tax treatment of WIR money, where a markup of about 25% is granted. However, the possibilities of actually being able to use the digital assets as a means of payment are considerably more limited compared with WIR money, which is why they are also less usable. Furthermore, for Bitcoin & Co. respectively their valuation, the volatility risk and the technology risk have to be considered additionally. In ist decisions, the Federal Supreme Court stated that it is permissible to assess the tax value on the basis of a cautious estimate, which takes into account the necessary schematization and the inevitable uncertainty of the valuation. Furthermore, a tax value that is below the effectively realizable market value is constitutionally tenable to a certain extent. In our opinion, the impact can thus be significantly higher than the 25% mentioned - the value developments in 2020 speak a clear language in this respect. We therefore recommend that taxpayers proceed with caution and prudence when declaring digital assets and do not adopt the FTA's rates unseen.
We would be happy to support you with your own declaration, an appeal or a possible voluntary declaration.
