The Japanese government is set to ease tax requirements for local crypto firms, as it pushes to stimulate growth in the domestic finance and tech sectors. <\/p>\n
At present, Japanese firms that issue crypto are required to pay a set 30% corporate tax rate on their holdings, even if they haven\u2019t realized a profit through a sale. As such, a number of domestically founded crypto\/blockchain firms and talent have reportedly chosen to set up shop elsewhere over the past few years. <\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party\u2019s (LDP) tax committee held a meeting on Dec. 15 and approved a proposal \u2014 initially tabled in August \u2014 which removes the requirement for crypto companies to pay taxes on paper gains from tokens that they have issued and held. <\/p>\n
The softer crypto tax rules are expected to be submitted to parliament in January, and go into effect for Japan\u2019s next financial year starting on April 1. <\/p>\n
Speaking to Bloomberg on Dec. 15, LDP lawmaker and member of its Web3 policy office Akihisa Shiozaki noted that \u201cthis is a very big step forward,\u201d adding that \u201cIt will become easier for various companies to do business that involves issuing tokens.\u201d <\/p>\n
The latest move from the government appears to signal that its hunger to promote and develop the domestic crypto and Web3 sector hasn\u2019t waned despite the FTX disaster, <\/p>\n
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized in October that NFTs, blockchain and the Metaverse will play important roles in the nation\u2019s digital transformation. The PM cited the digitization of national identity cards as an example.<\/p>\n
In October the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association also announced plans to walk back the stringent screening process for listing new tokens on exchanges, something which Kishida had called on the self-regulatory organization to do back in June. <\/p>\n