The Income Tax Department of the Indian government has allegedly dived in nine Bitcoin exchanges to appear into suspected tax evasion.

According to a report from the Press Trust of India (PTI), the country’s major news agency, several investigative teams from the Income Tax department in India together visited the premises of nine bitcoin exchanges on(13th December 2017)to conduct survey operations on doubt of alleged tax evasion.

Under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, the survey permits the tax investigator to congregate “proof for establishing the identity of traders and investors, business deal undertaken by them, identity of counterparties, connected bank accounts used”

The coordinated operation saw multiple teams visit nine anonymous exchanges in a number of cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Kochi and Hyderabad, according to the report. The leap is seen as the first important operation by Income Tax Department authorities beside Bitcoin exchanges, coming at a time when Bitcoin prices continue to smash record highs – up over 1,700% ever since the turn of the year.

Before this year, important Indian Bitcoin exchanges launched a self-regulatory body to homogenize AML and KYC rules for clients and adopters as authorities and watchdog carry on to stay ambiguous over apparent guidelines or a regulatory potential for the industry. In November, India’s Supreme Court called on authorities and other ministries to plan legislation to legalize the flow of Bitcoin in India’s emerging but surging bitcoin ecosystem.

Source: http://www.unkrypted.com/income-tax-department-visits-bitcoin-exchanges/

Author's Bio: 

Ricky Makan is a venture capitalist and Crypto Enthusiast best known for pioneering the market for Digital Marketing. He is a Co-founder of Unkrypted, a platform which provides the latest news and information that helps understand everything about the ever-evolving world of digital currencies. He is been fascinated by Blockchain technology since the first time he heard about it in 2013