DGGI action on Cryptocurrency exchanges across the country, tax evasion of 70 crores happened

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has taken a major crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country after the tax evasion of cryptocurrency exchange WazirX came to light. Sources told news agency ANI that the DGGI has searched the offices of about half a dozen cryptocurrency service providers. During this period, large-scale GST tax evasion has been detected. Crypto wallets and exchanges are platforms where merchants and consumers can transact with digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereal, Ripple.

According to sources, tax evasion of Rs 70 crore has been detected during the proceedings of Mumbai CGST and DGGI on cryptocurrency trade. Sources said that DGGI is investigating platforms like CoinSwitch Kuber, CoinDCX, BuyUCoin and Unocoin.

Official sources have said that these platforms allow buying and selling of crypto coins. These services attract 18% GST and all these platforms have been evading tax.

Another official source who was not a part of the investigation told ANI that these platforms were charging commission for providing service of bitcoin exchange but were not paying GST tax on it. DGGI intercepted these transactions. These proofs were placed in front of these platforms and it was proved that GST is not being paid. According to ANI, CBIC has recovered Rs 70 crore from other cryptocurrency exchanges including WazirX for violating GST laws.

Earlier on Friday, Mumbai East Commissionerate of GST recovered Rs 49.20 crore from WazirX. The commissionerate detected GST evasion of Rs 40.5 crore and recovered huge amount by way of GST evasion, interest and penalty. WazirX launched its own cryptocurrency, WRX, but did not pay GST on its transactions. 18 per cent GST was to be paid on the transactions through WRX.

As claimed by crypto exchange platform CoinDCX, their crypto app allows to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in India instantly. It has more than 7.5 million users. The app has got more than one crore downloads. BuyUcoin based crypto platform in Delhi-NCR also has more than one million users. It has done business of over $800 million (about Rs 5,960 crore).