The Indian authorities have identified a violation of tax laws by the cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, owned by Binance. About it it says in the press release.
In the course of studying the business activity of the platform, evasion of payment of goods and services tax (GST) in the amount of 49.2 was found crore rupees (over $ 6 million), including interest and fines.
The authorities also turned their attention to other exchanges. According to The Economic Times, the objects of investigation were CoinDCX, Unocoin, Coinswitch Kuber and BuyUCoin.
“The above case is part of a campaign against tax evasion. […] The CGST department will cover all cryptocurrency exchanges that fall into the Mumbai zone, and will also intensify this work in the coming days, ”the release says.
According to CoinDesk,WazirX cited the lack of clarity in the regulation and stated that it is “paying in good faith tens of crores in GST every month.”
“There was ambiguity in the interpretation of one of the components, which led to a different calculation of the value added tax paid. We have voluntarily paid an additional GST. There was no and there is no intention to evade paying taxes, ”the company said.
Binance acquired the Indian cryptocurrency exchange in November 2019.
In the summer of 2021, the Indian Ministry of Finance’s Enforcement Office announced an investigation into WazirX. Later, the media clarified that the authorities are studying the activities of applications controlled by Chinese operators – part of the money was allegedly laundered through the bitcoin exchange.
Recall that at the beginning of 2021, it became known about a possible legislative ban on cryptocurrencies, and we even talked about criminal liability for owners.
Later, information appeared that the authorities would legalize digital currencies as an asset class.
However, in November, there was another talk of the government’s intention to ban most “private currencies”. This caused panic in the local market, which led to a short-term local drop in the price of bitcoin by 15%.
In December, the media reported that the authorities would still regulate digital assets instead of banning them.
