Govt detects Rs 824 cr GST evasion by crypto firms
By Ruchi Sharma
The finance ministry has informed parliament that it has detected goods and services tax (GST) evasion of Rs 824 crore by major crypto exchanges, including Binance, WazirX, CoinDCX, and CoinSwitch Kuber. According to a declaration made in Parliament by Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State for Finance, only Rs 122.29 crore, including interest and penalties, has been recovered so far despite this significant discovery.
Binance, the largest offender, accounted for a staggering Rs 722.43 crore in evaded GST. However, no recovery has been made from the Binance group as of yet. Meanwhile, WazirX, operated by Zanmai Labs Pvt. Ltd, was found to have evaded GST of Rs 40.5 crore, but the government has recovered Rs 49.18 crore, exceeding the original evasion amount. CoinDCX and CoinSwitch Kuber were found to have evaded Rs 16.8 crore and Rs 14.1 crore, respectively, with recoveries of Rs 20.8 crore and Rs 19.3 crore.
The Ministry of Finance also revealed that 47 Virtual Digital Asset Service Providers (VDA SPs) have been registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit-India under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Cryptocurrency income is taxed at a flat rate of 30%, along with a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on transactions over Rs 50,000 annually.
Since March 2023, crypto assets have been classified as “Virtual Digital Assets” (VDAs) under the Income Tax Act, with exchanges and service providers required to adhere to strict anti-money laundering regulations, including Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. Enforcement is overseen by the Financial Intelligence Unit-India.
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