Faced with the devaluation of the bolivar, cryptocurrencies are a tool for money management in Venezuela. These are also an option to strengthen the employee-company relationship.
Mariela Llovera, a Venezuelan lawyer and graduate in Industrial Relations, is part of the team of Nayma Consultores, a company of which she is a co-founder and dedicated to advice on Finance, Human Resources and tax matters. Llovera has ventured into the field of advice on cryptocurrencies, especially on how companies and individuals should address the tax aspects concerning their use.
Some of her clients had bought Bitcoin that they would later sell, but they did not want to have tax problems on their accounts abroad. That information led her to learn that large companies were already touching the subject. Besides, the large amount of material that she consulted allowed her to understand the mechanisms to adhere to the tax regulations regarding the operation with cryptocurrencies.
Then she was able to give effective advice on this matter to her clients, who managed to liquidate their bitcoins at the peak of that cryptocurrency in 2017. They were able to prove to their banks abroad when an operation was legitimate and where they had obtained the funds.
Experiences with Cryptocurrencies
Her first experience with cryptocurrencies was when she gave direct advice to her clients. Now her team has an application at the company’s online store to receive payments in cryptocurrencies. This has allowed them to receive bitcoins from abroad, for services like online advice.
Additionally, she has worked with her team on an employee payment project, doing all the legal and administrative analysis of the project, to use cryptocurrencies as a means of paying workers.
He has also used cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services, especially at a store and at a couple of restaurants. Thus, she has had various experiences in which he has made and received payments with them.
Convenience of Using Cryptocurrencies for Payroll
Llovera believes that using cryptocurrencies to pay employees is valid, as long as workers, finance and accounting people are trained on how to keep track of these volatile assets. There may be both gains and losses in the process, which should be reflected in the financial statements as transparently as possible.
On the other hand, cryptocurrencies are an option to strengthen the employee-company relationship, as well as provide compensatory benefits regarding salary. This point is of the utmost importance, as companies are facing high costs due to the rotation and training of their employees, and they do not always find suitable candidates for vacancies.
Currently, additional benefits such as food tickets do not actually work, since the “incendiary” effect of hyperinflation burns them as soon as they are received. What employees require is “hard money” to acquire what they need, which they can do with cryptocurrencies.
Besides, attention needs to be paid to Decree 35 on cryptocurrencies and foreign currencies of December 28th, 2018. This decree states that when the tax base is invoiced in foreign currencies, taxes in foreign currencies must also be declared.
Cryptocurrencies and her Company
Llovera says that her company uses cryptocurrencies every day, which has facilitated payment from five of her clients. She notes that they use cryptocurrencies because their technology team developed an application that allows updating prices at their online store, through Bitcoin’s alternative quotation.
Some of her clients work with technology, and so to them payment with cryptocurrencies is the most normal thing in the world. Of course, if people start using them massively, they will include it in the advisory package.
By Willmen Blanco
