By Felipe Salinas, Tax Director at CCL Auditores Consultores.
Read the letter in Diario Financiero.
Dear Editor,
Diario Financiero reported that the value of Bitcoin once again reached all-time highs (US$73,797) ahead of a new “halving”—which occurs approximately every four years and reduces the rate of creation of new bitcoins by 50%—expected in April 2024.
While this is certainly very good news for both private and institutional investors, it is important to note that, given the volatility of the markets and the potential sale of this type of asset, taxes do not forgive.
It is not widely known among investors, especially private ones, that the sale of these digital currencies is taxed like any other movable capital, that is, through corporate and personal taxes—a position that has been clarified and reinforced by the Internal Revenue Service (SII) through various rulings issued between 2018 and 2023.
Even less known is that this taxation applies not only when converting “cryptocurrency to Chilean peso or U.S. dollar,” but also when exchanging one cryptocurrency for another—for example, bitcoin to ethereum—where, for tax purposes, it is considered the liquidation of one asset to acquire another type of currency. Given this, it is important to weigh the potential gains of this cryptocurrency while also considering that this asset is not exempt from taxation like any other capital.