Regulating a revolution : a study into the viability of an international system for the indirect tax treatment of ICOs

Abstract

The rise of Initial Coin Offerings has increasingly overshadowed the traditional IPOs and crowdfunding campaigns. This coupled with the increasing amounts of new virtual currencies which are emerging has made it of paramount importance to ensure an effective regulatory framework. In most jurisdictions however, the tax treatment of such fundraising mechanisms are in a grey area. Without such certainty the incentive to engage in ICOs is dwindling. Furthermore, a repercussion of the legal certainty is that ICO funded companies may struggle to meet their indirect tax obligations or that the likelihood of tax avoidance and evasion based on ICOs will increase. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to delve into how tokens are being treated from an indirect tax perspective and to point out how international coordination should be put in place.