An Alabama legislator has re-introduced a bill that would expressly exempt “virtual currency” from ad valorem tax. Alabama broadly imposes its ad valorem tax on all property, unless expressly exempt. Under current law, several other forms of currency are enumerated as exempt, such as “money on deposit in any bank or banking institution and all other solvent credits”; stock; and federal, state, and municipal bonds. The bill defines “virtual currency” as a “digital representation of value, other than a representation of the United States dollar or a foreign currency, that functions as a unit of account, a store of value, and/or a medium of exchange.” A similar bill failed to pass the Alabama legislature last year.
