Steve Walters, HMRC’s chief technology officer, said the UK is taking blockchain seriously in its application for tax administration, but described HMRC as adopting a ‘a slow-and-go approach’.
Walters made the comments held a conference in Vienna held by the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law with the theme ‘Blockchain: taxation and regulatory challenges and opportunities’. Looking at blockchain more widely, he cited regulatory oversight, security concerns, and reputational risk as factors giving large organisations such as HMRC reason to proceed with caution.
Blockchain is the technology underlying cryptocurrencies, which can be used to create a virtual ledger (chain) of digital records and transactions (blocks). The conference explored the potential for adapting this technology to areas such as VAT collection and payroll taxes. Transfer pricing was also on the agenda, with a discussion about blockchain providing multinational companies with a possible alternative method for allocating profit splits at a transactional level.
Steve Walters, HMRC’s chief technology officer, said the UK is taking blockchain seriously in its application for tax administration, but described HMRC as adopting a ‘a slow-and-go approach’.
Walters made the comments held a conference in Vienna held by the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law with the theme ‘Blockchain: taxation and regulatory challenges and opportunities’. Looking at blockchain more widely, he cited regulatory oversight, security concerns, and reputational risk as factors giving large organisations such as HMRC reason to proceed with caution.
Blockchain is the technology underlying cryptocurrencies, which can be used to create a virtual ledger (chain) of digital records and transactions (blocks). The conference explored the potential for adapting this technology to areas such as VAT collection and payroll taxes. Transfer pricing was also on the agenda, with a discussion about blockchain providing multinational companies with a possible alternative method for allocating profit splits at a transactional level.
