Zermatt has become the second town of Switzerland who allows its residents to pay their taxes in Bitcoin.
According to an announcement made on January 29 by crypto financial services firm Bitcoin Suisse, the municipality of Zermatt, in cooperation with Bitcoin Suisse, will accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for local taxes and official transactions with immediate effect.
Local taxpayers will be able to pay taxes directly form their crypto wallet. To do so, a point-of-sale solution developed by Bitcoin Suisse has been installed in the Zermatt town hall, so that fees for services from local authorities can be paid in Bitcoin.
According to the announcement, local residents can also pay their taxes through an online payment portal. However, in order to pay taxes with Bitcoin online, taxpayers have to apply directly to the Zermatt Tax Office for a crypto payment solution.
After that taxpayers will be able to access the online payment portal via an e-mail link and transfer bitcoins directly from their own crypto wallet.
Bitcoin Suisse will then exchange the Bitcoin into equivalent amount of Swiss Francs (CHF) and transfer the funds into municipality’s bank account.
The town of Zermatt has become second place in Switzerland that allows cryptocurrencies to pax taxes. Zug was the first city in Switzerland to accept Bitcoin payments in 2016.
The Swiss municipality of Chiasso also the announced the similar initiative in2017 but it only allows small tax payments, up to a value of 250 Swiss francs or 0.028 BTC.
Romy Biner-Hauser, Mayor of Zermatt, on this initiative commented:
“An innovative, pioneering spirit is one of the trademarks of Zermatt, which is why we are happy to support residents in providing them with the solutions they require.”
Bitcoin Suisse, which is based in Zug, is the oldest and largest crypto financial services company in Switzerland. Founded in 2013, the company has played an important role in the development of the crypto valley and the overall Swiss blockchain ecosystem.
The company provides a number of services to the global institutional and private clients that include brokerage and trading, storage solutions, collateralized lending, crypto financial solutions and other related services such as staking and baking.
Armin Schmid, Head Crypto Payments of Bitcoin Suisse, said:
“By accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment, Zermatt finds itself once more among the pioneers and supporting a growing ecosystem of cryptocurrencies.”
