If I was to implement Bitcoin into a business I would do the following:
Create an account (similar to the checking account) in my accounting software so when I sold an item for bitcoin, I’d record the selling price and corresponding revenue. When entering the sale, I’d notate #sats received (date will be automatically done as long as recording entries real time or daily). This will :
1- recognize the revenue of selling the item
2-give you the cost basis of the sats and the date you received them.
Then when you need to convert to fiat, you’d reduce the bitcoin account based on the #sats sold, recognize a gain or loss on the conversion, and receive the cash into you’re bank account.
In this scenario, all income has been reported and you have cost basis documented. If you could find vendors that take Bitcoin, you could buy inventory with the Bitcoin and achieve the full circular economy that we hope to one day see. In that scenario, you’d recognize the cost of the inventory or other expense item and would have a gain or loss on that conversion as well.
If you’re not running a computerized accounting software package, this can be done with a pen and paper. My guess is no one would accept Bitcoin if they didn’t run their company books on a computer system of some sort.
If I was doing lots of small transactions, you might do a bulk entry (total sats and total fiat sold
Value) at the end of the day vs entering each item. In that scenario I’d be looking to implement a BTCPayserver instance to use in collecting activity. (For instance a coffee shop or snowcone stand)
My thoughts would be all bitcoin transactions will be slow for anyone in the beginning and scale up as interest increased.
Is this anything close to what you’re asking? If not, and me specific questions and I’ll answer. I’ve given this a lot of thought but it’s the first time I’ve put it down for others to read.
#bitcoinbusiness
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Replies (2)
Speaking my language here lol. I understand the recording of the transactions. The bulk recording you mention is similar to how some shopping cart software does, they bundle transactions into one invoice you import into Quickbooks or equivalent.
My thing is having to also worry about taxable events and capital gain/loss in general.
For ex: a $1,000 sale could have a COGS expense of $800. The short-term volatility of BTC could be either beneficial if price goes up or a loss if price goes down. Let’s say it takes a few hours or a day and BTC is down 5%. I’d have to sell more than $800 worth of BTC I collected into fiat now to cover vendor COGS (less profit for me). In theory I would have a capital loss but capital gains or loses can’t offset ordinary business income, so it would only apply to future capital gains from BTC or other assets/investments.
Anyway, I think for most small businesses this is added work. Like I mentioned, bitpay does make this easier as they handle it all for you but defeats the point of removing middle-men.
At the moment accepting BTC as payment seems great for soloprenuer service-based businesses with little to no COGS. They might keep all the BTC and pay ordinary income taxes with fiat income from other sales.
Does that make sense or did I complicate it?
That’s an excellent answer!