March 30, 2022
By Anjali Kochhar
India’s tax authority Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has seized Rs. 95.86ryp crore (US$12.6 million) from 11 crypto exchanges on allegations of tax evasion.
The Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary revealed the details of the evasion in a statement Monday.
The tax evasion was from some of the big exchanges in the country including CoinDCX, BuyUCoin, CoinSwitchKuber, among others.
In January, DGGI only confirmed seizing funds from six crypto exchanges, including India’s largest exchanges: WazirX, CoinDCX, BuyUCoin and Unocoin which summed up to Rs 40.5 crore.
India has introduced stricter new crypto tax rules. The lower house of the Indian parliament Lok Sabha has passed the Finance Bill 2022, which levies a 30% tax on virtual digital assets effective April 1.
Any income from the transfer of cryptocurrencies will be taxed. With the passage of the finance bill last week, this financial year’s budgetary exercise stands completed.
The amended bill proposed that any losses from the transfer of virtual assets will not be allowed to be set off against the income arising from the transfer of another virtual asset.
Most crypto exchanges were against the new taxation policy of the country.
Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin, believes that implementing a single tax for a single crypto rule will be a “massive blow” to the crypto industry in the country.
Nischal Shetty, founder and chief executive officer of WazirX echoed the opinion of Thakral.
“We firmly believe that there is a need to regulate and tax crypto, but in its current form, it is poised to do more harm than good. It will also fail to provide desired results for the government,” he said.
“It can result in cascading participation on Indian exchanges that adhere to the KYC norms and lead to a rise in capital outflow to foreign exchanges or to the ones that aren’t KYC compliant. This is not conducive for the government or the crypto ecosystem of India,” said Shetty.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
