Indian Crypto Industry urges clarity on crypto tax rules in Union Budget 2022-23


IndiaTech.org an
Indian tech industry association representing consumer internet start-ups
including crypto exchanges has written a letter to the country’s finance
minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman urging clarity on the various cryptocurrency
taxation imposed on crypto assets in Union Budget 2022-23.
In the letter,
the association urged the government to amend existing tax rules to include
crypto assets. Also, it asks to clarify the methods and ways of taxation and
disclosures. As per the report Indiatech’s president and chief executive officer,
Ramesh Kailasam, commented that “The budget should ideally offer coherent
rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of
taxation, else there will be confusion.” Kailasam suggested that waiting for a
bill alone shouldn’t be done, and the Budget should initiate the process. The
letter said, “It is critical for the Union Budget to clearly lay down taxation
clarity around crypto assets by formally naming them in tax laws,”. Members of
the group participate in discussions on the policy framework for regulating crypto
with government officials and India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India.
It comes when in
preparation for the upcoming Union Budget 2022, officials from the Ministry of
Finance have been meeting with representatives from various industries. Furthermore,
the much-anticipated Cryptocurrency Bill 2021 has now been pushed back to
mid-2022, which was to be introduced in the just-ended winter session of
parliament. It is likely that India's budget session will begin on Jan. 31, the
budget will be presented on Feb. 1, and the session will last at least through
April. On the same day it sent the letter, an in-depth report was published by
CoinDesk about how Indian crypto exchanges were recently "inspected"
by tax agencies, and that more than Rs 84 crore ($11 million) was
"recovered." Binance was one of the exchanges inspected.
There are
instances when some cryptocurrency exchanges are being accused of not paying goods
and services tax (GST). India’s Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax
Intelligence (DGGI) is scrutinizing several crypto firms that didn’t pay tax
properly.
About
IndiaTech
IndiaTech represents the major leading cryptocurrency exchanges in India. The association members of this industry body comprise CoinSwitch Kuber, WazirX, and CoinDCX.

Indrani Bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA