The state of Ohio in the United States will soon become the first to accept tax payments in Bitcoin (BTC). This news was reported by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, November 25.
According to the WSJ, the first phase of the move will only apply to businesses. But there are plans to roll out the feature to individual taxpayers in the nearby future.

Beginning from this week, businesses based in Ohio “will be able to register to pay all of their taxes in the leading cryptocurrency.” BitPay, a cryptocurrency payments service, has been put in charge of processing all payments.

This recent move by the state of Ohio was initiated by Josh Mandel, the State Treasurer. Speaking on the crypto-friendly move by his state, Mandel told reporters that in terms of national cryptocurrency adoption, he is “looking to plant a flag” for Ohio. In his own words, “I do see Bitcoin as a legitimate form of currency.”

Furthermore, Mandel revealed that after his term ends January next year, he is “confident that this cryptocurrency initiative will continue.” Elaborating more on this, Mandel told reporters that since he is an elected state official, he is “able to decide that his office will accept the digital currency without approval from the legislature or governor.”

This move by Ohio state is in sharp contrast to other states in the United States where several bills in the past year proposing for the acceptance of crypto for taxes have been delayed in their final passing by state lawmakers.

In May, the House of Representatives in Arizona had passed a bill that would enable citizens to use cryptocurrency in paying their taxes. Following the vote, however, this initiative has been all but thwarted with a series of amendments.

The state of Georgia also introduced a bill in February that proposed “cryptocurrencies as a valid form of payment for state taxes and licenses.” As at the time of writing, the status of the bill reads “25% progression, died in committee.”

In conclusion

Citizens of Ohio state can now pay their taxes in Bitcoin if the reports in the Wall Street Journal are to be believed. The initial payments will be open to only businesses based in the state but this will not be for long as there are plans to include individual taxpayers in the future. The cryptocurrency payments service, BitPay, has been contracted to process all the payments.

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