This bodes well for Bitcoin, because other countries are likely to follow Germany's example.
That's not a good thing for bitcoin, though, or for the free market in general. One of the main ideas behind bitcoin is its ease of use compared to exisiting methods. The more regulations and limitations imposed on it, the more it becomes like everything else, in terms of ease of use.
> 2. "electronic money" means electronically, including magnetically, stored monetary value as represented by a claim on the issuer which is issued on receipt of funds for the purpose of making payment transactions as defined in point 5 of Article 4 of Directive 2007/64/EC, and which is accepted by a natural or legal person other than the electronic money issuer;
Germany is doing nothing strange, all the EU state will have to do similar things in the future. Bitcoin may be a distributed currency without a politically backed central bank, but it is still a currency, so it is treated as such by any competent tax office.
You bitcoins are accepted because they are recognized by others to be part of a block originally mined by someone.
Really not that different from how money is "printed" by central banks these days (somebody presses the "generate €1.000.000" key and that updates a value in a DB).
But I am neither an accountant, nor a lawyer, nor an economist, so the likelihood of my guess being correct is rather slim.
If you manage to hide that income for some time but it comes to light a few years later - BAM, you owe the back taxes in triple+interest.
Taxing that works - if the volume is sufficient to arise suspicion, then seize the relevant documents and computers, find evidence and charge you for tax fraud.
This is good for the moment, but also begs a question: when the real regulation comes into play how it will be played? But for now - relax and enjoy!
Bitcoin is great when:
1. You want to accept or make payments from a country where CC fraud is high or banking is rare/expensive.
2. You worry about high inflation rates in your home currency, and your government creates a lot of obstacles to move your money to other currencies (like today in Argentina).
3. Or you want transact in a grey market tax-free. E.g. a guy selling his IT consulting services.
