Accepting ****** Payments

[N/A]

Does anyone here accept ****** payments? I have been investing for a while on a personal level. I am now thinking of accepting ****** payments from customers for retail sales.

I already have a Coinbase personal account / wallet and I have a Coinbase Commerce account in the company name (Linked to the personal wallet as Coinbase dont make it easy to set up an "enterprise account")

I have also seen a company called Bitpay that will process the ****** payment, instantly convert it to GBP and process a daily deposit into the bank account. The only thing that puts me off is there is no phone number (I`m a bit old tech and hate "email and live chat only" type support. If I have a problem with something its good to pick up the phone and speak to a human.

With Coinbase commerce the payment would be processed as ******, I would then need to move it to my personal Coinbase account, convert to GBP and withdraw to my personal bank account then move it to the business bank account. This process is a bit more complicated plus I am not sure how it affects the books having payments passing through my personal account. Also with the price swings of ****** how would I account for any movements in price? For example if a customer pays £100 for something in BTC and the value of BTC increases before I convert and deposit to the company bank account (via my personal account) What happens to the remaining profit of BTC? The company account only needs to receive the actual payment of £100 to clear the customers invoice. If the ****** value goes up could I keep this in my personal wallet as stricly speaking it doesnt belong to the company (Any profits kept in my personal account would be accounted for and taxed in my personal tax assessment. I am not talking about dodging tax before anyone starts thinking that)

Bit of a long and slightly confusing post but hoping someone with experiance of this / accounts etc might have some advice!

Thank you

 

[Mark T Jones]

The first and obvious question is do you have any evidence that you are missing out by not offering ****** as a payment option?

It looks to me like you will be adding a load of extra admin and an element of risk for what is essentially a gimic.

 

[N/A]

The first and obvious question is do you have any evidence that you are missing out by not offering ****** as a payment option?

It looks to me like you will be adding a load of extra admin and an element of risk for what is essentially a gimic.

I dont think I am "missing out" so much, I do think it gives customers that already trade ****** another payment option that removes the instanely high Paypal fees for overseas buyers. It only really applies to people already using ******. I dont expect a huge demand for it but if it costs nothing to set up there is also nothing to lose giving it a trial run.

My question was more if anyone has direct experience with this and how to account for the price swings in relation to the physical cost of an item. If I go down the Coinbase Commerce route then obviously at point of sale the customer will be charged the current market rate in BTC, a week later it could be worth 20% more. So if something is £100, point of sale BTC value is £100. If the value goes up 20% to £120 before I deposit to the company account what happens to the additional £20 if the original invoice amount is only £100?

As for being a gimic thats debateable and a whole other conversation. All I will say is if the SEC have approved BTC and ETH ETFs for the biggest fund management companies in the world like Blackrock etc there must be something to it. On a personal level I have made significant profits from ****** since I started investing about 3 years ago so I wouldnt say its a gimic. Its definitely risky and you need to have some idea how the markets move but so far its done ok for me!

 

[Mark T Jones]

I think you are confusing the practicalities of business with personal views on ******.

If your customers aren't pushing you to accept ******, then doing so is a gimic.(why not accept gold and Swiis Francs?)

Your underlying question highlights the fact that there accounting complexities and associated risks which won't add value to your business.

Your personal investment strategy is your own affair , the key to business is to keep it straight forward and not to take pointless risks.

 

[fisicx]

Why are using paypal? I use revolut payment links - a lot cheaper to do international transfers.

I've been asked a number or times about accepting ******. I've always refused and never had a customer cancel.

But to answer your question. You transfer all £120 and do a single reconciliation at the end of the year.

 

[N/A]

If your customers aren't pushing you to accept ******, then doing so is a gimic.(why not accept gold and Swiis Francs?)

****** payments are digital, near enough instant and low cost. Gold is not.

Your underlying question highlights the fact that there accounting complexities and associated risks which won't add value to your business.

It is only complex until I know the correct way to handle the accounting side. From that point its no more complex than any other process, As I already use ****** on a personal level its just an extension into the business so for me it is straight forward. I understand the personal side accounting and taxes but accepting ****** payments on the business side is a bit different in how to handle the potential gains in price.

As said the question only applies to people already using ******. In those cases it would be a benefit. It would be on a trial basis, if it does become a risk I will just remove it as an option.

Why are using paypal? I use revolut payment links - a lot cheaper to do international transfers.

I've been asked a number or times about accepting ******. I've always refused and never had a customer cancel.

But to answer your question. You transfer all £120 and do a single reconciliation at the end of the year.

Thank you for your reply.

Paypal was an example (and a last resort, generally I do try to avoid it because of fees) I tried Revolut a while back and found the company a nightmare to deal with so I wont use Revolut. For international payments I currently offer debit / credit by phone (Risk of chargeback) or email link. Some customers have international card payments blocked by their bank so that causes a problem.

I also offer WISE. Some customers dont want to sign up to a payment service they have never heard of. PayPal as we both know have crazy high processing fees. Recently a customer in the States was trying for almost a week to send a payment using every possible option I have, in the end he got a friend to pay through Paypal and gave him the cash. In those cases IF a customer is already using ****** it would provide a solution.

"But to answer your question. You transfer all £120 and do a single reconciliation at the end of the year."

Hyperthetical example........ If over the year I have raised £25,000 in ****** based invoices to customers and need to reconcile £25,000 of sales invoices. IF the value of the ****** payments has gone up by 20% and is now worth £30,000 what happens to the remaining £5000 gain if there is no open invoices to reconcile against? Does it just go into the company on the balance sheet somewhere as additional profit and pay corporation tax on it or does the remaining £5000 gain stay in my personal ****** wallet and taxed in my personal assessment as I have already allocated the required amount to the company sales, That is the part I am struggling to understand.

 

[fisicx]

You leave wherever you want and include it in your profit when doing the accounts. In the same way you would include interest earned on a savings account.

If you made a loss on the exchange you would have to make up the shortfall.

Your accountant will be able to advise on all of this.

 

[WaveJumper]

This link may not be on the "correct page" for you but sure you will find it interesting, scan through and have a read of the bits in the manual to give you a guide.

CRYPTO41260 - Cryptoassets for businesses: Corporation Tax: Transferring tokens between distributed ledgers - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK

www.gov.uk

 

[Dinky]

You need to consider the extra tax implications as BTC is classed as an asset, therefore everytime you sell BTC, which is what you are doing when you "convert to GBP", that sale will be subject to capital gains tax.

https://koinly.io/guides/hmrc-cryptocurrency-tax-guide/

https://koinly.io/blog/uk-bitcoin-******-tax-rates/

The UK gov are still moving the goals all the time with an ever changing ****** policy, so personally I wouldn't go anywhere near accepting ****** payments for business, way too much of a headache still right now. Once they consider BTC a currency, only then would I consider accepting for business.

 

[mburdett555]

Given the volatility of ****** it seems bizarre to choose to accept it as a payment method. I personally have a small sum in bitcoin and it's very up and down, I certainly wouldn't take in large sums of money via commerce into a ****** wallet only for it to devalue considerably the next week...

 

[RobertWhite999]

That’s a great question, and navigating ****** payments for a business can definitely get tricky—especially when it comes to bookkeeping and tax implications. I’ve dealt with similar concerns and found that working with a ****** tax accountant made things much easier. They helped me structure transactions properly, ensuring compliance while maximizing efficiency. Given the complexities of price fluctuations and tax reporting, I’d highly recommend reaching out to a professional—they can clarify how to handle conversions, record profits, and avoid unnecessary headaches.

 

[linkator]

Hyperthetical example........ If over the year I have raised £25,000 in ****** based invoices to customers and need to reconcile £25,000 of sales invoices. IF the value of the ****** payments has gone up by 20% and is now worth £30,000 what happens to the remaining £5000 gain if there is no open invoices to reconcile against? Does it just go into the company on the balance sheet somewhere as additional profit and pay corporation tax on it or does the remaining £5000 gain stay in my personal ****** wallet and taxed in my personal assessment as I have already allocated the required amount to the company sales, That is the part I am struggling to understand.

Exactly the same as it would happen with foreign currency which you hold. The value can go up or down and accountant has pretty clear understanding of how to manage this.

"When accounting for foreign currency held in a business account, you need to convert it to the business's functional currency using the spot exchange rate on the balance sheet date, and any gains or losses from currency fluctuations are recognized in the profit and loss account."