India: Probe into crypto exchanges reveals over $10.7 million in tax irregularities

ambcrypto.com:

11 crypto exchanges were probed under investigation in India for alleged evasion of goods and services tax (GST). The quantum of evasion is valued close to INR 81 crore (~$10.7 million) as per The Times of India.

Pankaj Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Finance, discussed the latest crackdown on crypto exchanges before the parliament. He said,

“The CGST had detected GST evasion to the tune of Rs 81.54 crore. With penalties, these exchanges paid Rs 95.86 crore “

Chaudhary named a total of 11 cryptocurrency exchanges – CoinDCX, BuyUcoin, CoinSwitch Kuber, Unocoin, Flitpay, Zeb IT Services Pvt Ltd, Secure Bitcoin Traders Pvt Ltd, Giottus Technologies, Awlencan Innovations India Pvt Ltd (ZebPay), Zanmai Labs (WazirX), and Discidium Internet Labs.

Among the exchanges under the scanner, almost half of the total amount was pegged to Zanmai Labs (WazirX). According to the government, the Zanmai Labs was responsible for evading nearly INR 40.5 crore (~$5.3 million). The recovered amount, including penalties, summed up to above INR 49 crore (~$6.4 million). Another India-based crypto exchange Coin DCX, the alleged evasion was pegged at INR 15.7 crore (~$2 million). CoinSwitch Kuber was alleged for an evasion of INR 13.8 crore (~$1.8 million), according to the MoS for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary.

The Economic Times recently reported about transactions involving crypto assets within Indian and foreign exchanges. ET sources said,

“The tax department is scrutinizing how exchanges that allow trading in India manage their cryptocurrency float, and whether there is any element or any transaction where Goods and Services Tax (GST) could apply.”

Malicious activities have been recorded in many instances across exchanges. In the case of large