Will Bitcoin be the new tax haven? UF Law Professor available to discuss this likelihood

August 7, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Will Bitcoin and other forms of digital currencies be the new tax havens? UF Law Professor Omri Marian argues in a forthcoming essay in the online companion of the Michigan Law Review that such an outcome is possible. The recent transformation of financial intermediaries such as banks into tax collection agents for governments (i.e., tax authorities) has made Bitcoin appealing for tax-evaders. Bitcoin possess many qualities of traditional tax havens – earnings are not subject to taxation and the taxpayers’ anonymity is maintained – yet operate without the intervention of financial intermediaries. Thus, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can potentially defeat the recent successes of governments in battling offshore tax evasion.

Contact:
Omri Marian, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
734-239-5936 or marian@law.ufl.edu

Marian is available to address issues of cryptocurrencies and how they could replace traditional tax havens.

His essay can be downloaded free of charge at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2305863.