Overstock To Pay Taxes Through Bitcoins

By Rishma Banerjee

It is almost a month ago that the state of Ohio had announced their first-of-its-kind payment portal called ‘OhioCrypto’ which could facilitate companies to remit taxes with the help of cryptocurrencies. The first prominent company of repute, to use this facility is crypto friendly online retailer Overstock.com

Crypto friendly online retailer Overstock.com announced that it would be paying a part of its state business tax using bitcoin.

According to the interview conducted by the Fortune Magazine, Ohio State’s Treasurer Josh Mandel said that the Bitcoin tax collection program was introduced with a goal to provide convenience to businesses in the state. This would also help in branding the state as the forerunner in blockchain technology adoption. In order to encourage businesses to use this facility, the state has also decided to waive off the bitcoin services fee for early birds like Overstock.com. Paying taxed with cryptocurrency rather than fiat is also much more judicious to taxpayers as the service fee for bitcoin payments is just 1% compared to 2.5% that is currently charged to one who opts to pay by credit card.

This initiative as introduced by Ohio state regulators takes into account 23 types of business taxes including the one that is charged in tobacco and fuel. For Overstock, the taxes that are eligible to be paid via Bitcoin is Commercial Activity Tax (CAT), which applies to businesses with over $150,000 in receipts.

Mandel further says that by 2020, there would be increased usage of this facility to other types of taxes and to individual tax filers, after having gone through expansion. There also are plans to add more cryptocurrency to the portal apart from just Bitcoins.

An Ohio auto dealer was the first company to use this service, but Overstock is the first prominent company of any repute who went on to accept this offer and starts paying in cryptos. Ohio State is currently using Bitpay wallets to accept these payments.

Patrick M. Byrne, CEO Overstock of was also quoted by Fortune Magazine. He said,

“We have long thought that thoughtful governmental adoption of emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies (when accompanied by non-restrictive legislation over these technologies) is the best way to ensure the U.S. does not lose our place at the forefront of the ever-advancing global economy,”

Overstock has shown its belief in bitcoin and blockchain technology and is not just accepting cryptocurrency but will now be using it to pay taxes as well.