IRS Criminal Investigation Unit Is Taking on More Crypto Tax Cases
Copyright Win McNamee, Getty Images Practice Management>Regulation & Compliance IRS Criminal Investigation Unit Is Taking on More Crypto Tax Cases The IRS has been asking individuals to disclose if they've transacted in cryptocurrency since the 2019 tax year.
(Bloomberg) -- The Internal Revenue Service crime unit that played a leading role in the Binance Holdings Ltd. probe is seeing a surge in cases involving crypto-related tax evasion, according to the division’s leader.
Three years ago, the vast majority of the active crypto investigations — upwards of 90% — involved money laundering, Jim Lee, chief of the IRS’s criminal investigation division, told reporters on a call Monday. But in the past year, about half of the digital-asset probes have involved tax, he said.
These investigations cover a range of issues — from taxpayers failing to report income from capital gains or mining activities to individuals purposely not disclosing their crypto holdings, according to the division’s latest annual report covering Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30.
Since the 2019 tax year, the IRS has asked individuals to disclose whether they’ve transacted in cryptocurrency. The requirement was part of a broader effort to clamp down on digital-asset tax dodgers.
Read more: Binance Pleads Guilty, Loses CZ, Pays Fines to End Legal Woes
The IRS unit’s role was pivotal in the criminal case against Binance, the world’s largest digital-asset exchange. Last month, the firm pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering and US sanctions violations and agreed to pay $4.3 billion. The sweeping settlement involved multiple parts of the government, including the Justice Department, the Treasury Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.
Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal charge and agreed to step down from his role at the company.
The IRS has also been involved in several of the largest digital-asset seizures, including the record recovery of $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin stolen during the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex.
TAGS: Alternative Investments High Net Worth 0 comments Hide comments
Comment * Switch to plain text editorMore information about text formats
Text format CommentsPlain text Comments- Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>
- No HTML tags allowed.
- Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
- Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
- Load More
- Previous Article
Owl Media Group takes pride in providing social-first platforms which equally benefit and facilitate engagement between businesses and consumers and creating much-needed balance to make conducting business, easier, safer, faster and better. The vision behind every platform in the Owl Media suite is to make lives better and foster a healthy environment in which parties can conduct business efficiently. Facilitating free and fair business relationships is crucial for any thriving economy and Owl Media bridges the gap and open doors for transparent and successful transacting. No advertising funds influence the functionality of our media platforms because we value authenticity and never compromise on quality no matter how lucrative the offers from advertisers may seem.
Originally posted on: https://www.wealthmanagement.com/regulation-compliance/irs-criminal-investigation-unit-taking-more-crypto-tax-cases