Retail giant Overstock has just announced that it will pay part of its Ohio taxes in cryptocurrency this year. Using the recently created OhioCrypto, Overstock plans to pay its commercial activity tax (CAT) in Bitcoin.
Launched in November 2018, OhioCrypto allows businesses in the Buckeye state to pay 23 different types of taxes using Bitcoin. The taxes range from cigarette to fuel to the CAT.
The fees are lowered from 2.5% when paying with credit cards, to 1% when paying with Bitcoin. Early filers, like Overstock, will have their fees waived completely.
In an interview with Fortune, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says that by 2020 the state may even allow individuals to pay some of their taxes using multiple cryptocurrencies.
According to the Fortune report,
“Mandel says he believes the program will grow in coming years, and expand to other states. He added that he hopes the U.S. Treasury will follow Ohio’s example and allow people to pay federal taxes with cryptocurrency.”
Overstock’s decision to pay with crypto comes as no surprise, as the company was the first major retailer to accept Bitcoin back in 2014. Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne recently said he plans to sell the entire retail arm of his company to focus on blockchain and crypto.
Byrne says,
“We are proud to partner with forward-thinking governments and officials like Ohio and Treasurer Mandel to help usher in an era of trust through technology for our nation’s essential financial systems.”
OhioCrypto will use the Atlanta-based crypto company BitPay to convert Bitcoin to US dollars.
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