Henry told us in his guide to the Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia that the Australian Taxation System is one of the most complex in

Henry told us in his guide to the Institutional Framework of Taxation in Australia that the Australian Taxation System is one of the most complex in the world and is made up of approximately 125 taxes including taxes such as Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and Goods and Services Tax just to name a few. He also mentioned that there are many different organisations that play different and varied roles within this system to ensure its integrity and all Australians are equally treated with equity.

The Australian Taxation System is embedded in the way of life for all Australian taxpayers, we pay tax on our income, we pay tax when we purchase goods and use services, we pay tax when we sell assets and this is just to name a few but in return the Government provides services and benefits e.g. hospitals, schools, defence, and financial assistance to those in need etc.

As we know the government relies very heavily on the revenue from taxation to be able to finance its activities and services it offers to the public and reforms and reviews on taxation are often a focus of governments. 

In recent years there has been an increase in the use of online currencies (Cryptocurrency) for sales and purchases of goods and services on the net, as well as those who trade in the currency for profit or use it for long term investment purposes. The tax authorities around the world are just starting to look at these cryptocurrencies and the way in which they should be dealt with for income tax purposes. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is establishing a taskforce to monitor cryptocurrency transactions, the taskforce aims to ensure cryptocurrency investors are paying the correct amount of tax.

This assessment requires you to review this topical area of taxation (Taxing of Cryptocurrency) which has been playing out in the media for a number of months now as per Part 1 and Part 2 below.

Part One

Review Australian newspapers such as the West Australian, Financial Review, The Australian, Sunday Times and various others for articles on the area mentioned above. You need to find 10 newspaper articles which will be handed in with your assignment. The articles should be from 2017 or 2018 only. If you do not have access to Australian Newspapers then you may use the Factiva Database within the Curtin Library. A factsheet on how to use this database and a short video presentation is included in the assessment link for this assignment on the Blackboard. These newspaper articles must be scanned or saved as PDF files and uploaded to the Blackboard in the appropriate area within the assessment tab. Please Note we will not accept links to the articles.

Part Two

After reading newspapers and journal articles and using wider research platforms such as the Australian Taxation Office Rulings on the subject of Taxing of Cryptocurrency and how governments are going to start tackling this issue you should be able to form an opinion to whether the policing of cryptocurrency will be effective or will it be a difficult task for revenue authorities.

For this area of the assessment you need to explain

a)   What is Cryptocurrency and how does it work?

b)   How is Cryptocurrency taxed within Australia at the moment?

c)   What are revenue authorities doing going forward to ensure that it is correctly taxed within their own regions?

d)   What is your opinion of the measures being taken by the tax authorities to ensure that they catch all the taxpayers partaking in the cryptocurrency world, will it be successful or will it be difficult to police? This area is based about your opinion so you need to ensure that you give us your own personal views of the topic and not a summary of the articles you have collected in part one of the assessment task.