The National Tax Administration of Japan has verified the facts of tax evasion on income from operations with cryptoassets. It was found that the country’s budget received less than $ 6 million.
Taxation of crypto assets has become one of the most pressing issues for the Japanese government. A selective tax audit in the Kanto region showed that a fairly large number of citizens of the country and companies work with cryptoassets in legally gray areas. A large-scale investigation of cryptocurrency transactions in Saitama, Tochigi, Gunma, Niigata and Nagano prefectures, conducted following the results of the audit, revealed cases of tax evasion totaling more than $ 6 million. Japanese tax authorities report that some office workers and students never did not file a tax return on income for this type of operation, citing the absence of such, or ignorance of the requirements of tax legislation. Thus, there is a possibility that they are evading taxes, according to the department.
The regulator plans to focus on citizens and organizations’ compliance with tax guidelines and end cryptocurrency tax evasion. To this end, tax officials conduct “research on information sources, collecting and summarizing data on taxpayers as holders of cryptoassets.” The sphere of interests of the tax inspectorate includes all transactions with cryptoassets and their retrospective history, which at the system level are provided by companies involved in the exchange of cryptoassets. The inspectorate also monitors articles in the media, interviews, messages on social networks and messengers.
Until 2018, companies offering services for the exchange of cryptocurrency assets could refuse to provide information about transactions due to the protection of personal information. With the entry into force of the amendment to the “General Rules for National Taxes”, which took effect in January 2018, companies are required to submit transaction data by law. There is a provision on punishment for the refusal of the information owner to provide data without a valid reason. Thus, the tax authorities can investigate a specific person or legal entity.
Due to the growing popularity of cryptocurrency assets, high volatility of cryptocurrencies, as well as a significant number of transactions, tax regulators in many countries are trying to bring them out of the gray zone and bring them into the legal framework. At the same time, the position of state bodies of different countries does not always coincide. So, France is considering the possibility of reducing the tax burden for cryptocurrency holders, US legislators propose to increase taxes on all transactions with cryptoassets, South Korea wants to postpone the adoption of the law on taxation of cryptocurrencies until the proper infrastructure is formed.
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