New Delhi: The Central Board of Direct Taxes Chief said that the department will tax on the bitcoin trade. The latest development came after the Union Finance Minister speech announced in his budget speech that cryptocurrency is not legal in India.
The social networking platform facebook also this week banned advertisements related to cryptocurrency as they will mislead the potential customers.
PTI quoted that Sushil Chandra , the Chairman of CBDT said that, “It has come to the notice of the taxman that while many such investors did not pay advance tax on the benefits which they have accrued, some others have not explained these investments in their tax returns in the past.”
He further added that “The department has issued notices to them and they are in few lakhs.”
Bitcoin’s value has surged more than 1700 percent in 2017. This has led investors to be lured.
According to the news reported in ibtimes India, Kumar Gaurav Founder and CEO of Cashaa said in an e-mail statement that “I believe the government is failing to understand that cryptocurrencies are not about speculation and trading but there’s much more to it. Many cryptocurrencies like Cashaa & Ethereum have a strong use case especially for developing economies like India.”
He further said that ”Government is presently in a state where they don’t know what exactly is the right decision and approach towards regulating cryptocurrency. It has to be a dynamic approach and will change according to how markets adopt it.”