In Public Ruling BR Pub 19/01, New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has set out official guidance regarding the tax treatment of payments made to employees in cryptocurrencies.

The guidance triggered numerous headlines suggesting, inaccurately, that this had opened the door to a brave new world in which employees can finally be paid in cryptocurrency. In truth, employees were already being paid this way and the guidance followed a request for advice on how to fill out tax returns.