The DGGI has discovered Rs 70 crore in tax evasion in a sweeping crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges throughout India
According to sources, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence has cracked down hard on cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country following huge GST tax fraud by WazirX.
“Approximately half a dozen offices of Cryptocurrency Service Providers have been examined, and DGGI has identified huge Goods and Service Tax (GST) evasion,” sources informed ANI.
Wallets and exchanges for digital assets such as bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, and others are platforms where merchants and customers can deal.
According to official authorities, “They facilitate the buying and selling of crypto currencies by acting as an intermediary. These services are subject to an 18% GST rate of charge, which they have all avoided.”
Another official source involved in the investigation told ANI, “These service providers were collecting a commission for facilitating bitcoin exchanges, but they were not paying GST tax. DGGI intercepted these transactions and presented them with proof proving non-payment of GST.”
According to ANI, they paid between Rs 30 and Rs 40 crore in GST, interest, and penalties for non-compliance with the GST law’s statutory restrictions. The CBIC has collected Rs 70 crore from Cryptocurrency Service Providers, including WazirX, for violating GST norms.
On Friday, the GST Mumbai East Commissionerate of the Mumbai Zone discovered Rs 40.5 crore in GST evasion from cryptocurrency exchange WazirX and seized Rs 49.20 crore in cash for GST evasion, interest, and penalty.
According to CoinDCX, its crypto app allows users to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in India quickly and has over 7.5 million users, over one crore downloads, and over Rs 7 billion in crypto purchases.
BuyUcoin, based in Delhi-NCR, India, has over one million members and has traded over USD 800 million, according to the website, whose CoinSwitch Kuber trading platform has handled over USD 5 billion.
Unocoin, a platform for trading Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, and other crypto assets, has offices in Bangalore that have processed more than 10 million transactions, according to their website.
