An Indian industry association has written to the country’s finance minister seeking clarity on cryptocurrency taxation in Union Budget 2022-23. “The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of taxation, else there will be confusion.”
Industries Wants Clearness in Crypto Tax Laws for Union Budget 2022-23
Indian industry association Indiatech has written to the country’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, regarding cryptocurrency taxation. Indiatech represents several major cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Wazirx and Coinswitch Kuber.
The association asked for clarification from the finance minister regarding crypto taxation in the Union Budget 2022-223. It also requested that the government amend tax laws in order to allow crypto assets to be included. Indiatech’s president and CEO, Rameesh Kailasam, told Ettech:
The best budgets should contain coherent rules about direct taxation. If not, the GST Council must detail how taxation applies.
Some crypto exchanges were accused of not paying goods and service tax (GST). India’s Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) is scrutinizing several crypto firms for tax evasion.
The DGGI recently raided major cryptocurrency exchanges and discovered “massive” GST evasion. According to some reports, tax evasion totalling about Rs 70 crore was discovered ($9.4 Million). The reason that crypto exchanges failed to properly pay taxes was due to confusion about tax laws.
Indiatech asked Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister to recognise cryptocurrencies and not currencies. The industry association has also recommended levying a flat 18% GST only on exchanges’ commissions.
India does not have a law that directly governs crypto assets. Although a cryptocurrency bill had been listed for consideration in the winter session, it was not adopted. The Indian government is currently reportedly revising the bill.
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