2 weeks Ago By Kamya Pandey
Goods and Service Tax (GST) authorities are currently investigating 17 cryptocurrency platforms including CoinDCX, WazirX, CoinSwitch Kuber, Nest Services (a Binance Group Company), and Flitpay for tax evasions worth Rs 824.14 crore, the Ministry of Finance said on December 2 in response to a Lok Sabha question . The authorities have recovered Rs 122.
29 crore, including interest on the tax and penalties. Besides this, the GST authorities are also looking into four crypto investors for tax evasion of Rs 1.76 crore, they have recovered Rs 2.
40 crore from these investors including interest and penalties. While India doesn’t have any specific regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, the government requires crypto platforms to register with the Finance Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) under the Ministry of Finance. FIU-IND requires these registrations under the anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the finance of terrorism (CFT) guidelines for virtual digital assets (VDAs) released in March 2023.
To comply with AML-CFT guidelines, crypto platforms have to create a robust mechanism to comply with know your customer (KYC) requirements. They also have to follow enhance due diligence requirements (EDD) which include examining the background and purpose of unusually large transactions. Increase in number of registered crypto firms: Responding to the Lok Sabha question, the Ministry said that as of December 2024, 47 entities have registered with it, which is a major jump from the same time last year when only 28 entities had registered with FIU-IND.
This indicates that many more crypto entities want to legitimise their operations in India. For instance, in August this year , Binance completed registering with the FIU-IND after getting pulled up last year for operating without registration. The company has since worked with the Enforcement Directorate, helping it catch fraudsters associated with the Rs 400 crore Feiwin gaming scam .
How much GST did specific crypto firms owe? GST authorities booked crypto companies for the following cases of tax evasion: Also read: Support our journalism: For You.
