Income Tax Department in India reported that it has issued a number of digital currency traders tax notices after they had carried out a questionnaire on digital currencies nationwide. In an interview with Reuters , India's tax officials revealed that citizens had participated in more than $ 3.5 billion in transactions and investments in digital currencies such as Bitcoiin, ethereum and Ripple in 17 months to 2018 . As reported in mid- December , tax officials in India have visited a number of digital currency platforms to investigate transactions, collect evidence proving the identity of investors and traders, their transactions, identity of the counterparties, bank accounts used, and much more. At that time, the Authority said it was investigating cases of money laundering and tax evasion. Within a day of " on-site surveys ", the IT department in the income tax confirmed its intention to collect taxes from investors.After collecting enough data, it was reported that the Indian government's tax authority had sent notices to tens of thousands of citizens investing in digital currencies. In this regard, the Government requires recipients of such services to tax capital gains and to seek details of their " total holdings and source of funds ". As the Director General of Investigations in the Information Technology Department " Balakrishnan " said:
"We found that investors do not show their tax returns, and in many cases, the investment is not calculated"
On the other hand, India's official position on digital currencies is still confused, in a field that has seen considerable growth and a lot of adoption and awareness of digital currencies by citizens in the country in recent years. Structured local trading platforms that meet your " custom customer " standards add about 200,000 new users each month despite repeated warnings by the Central Bank of India against decentralized investments in digital currencies. In addition, two petitions have been submitted by the Court to clarify certain matters, which would demystify the proposed regulatory framework. Where the electronic crimes lawyer in the Supreme Court, " Pavan Dugal " grant limited legitimacy by the government to ensure that the use of digital currencies in criminal activities, considering that the digital currency exists to survive.
The Indian Government is working through an interdepartmental committee to develop a regulatory framework for the legality and regulation of digital currencies in the country. However, IT management in India did not wait for any guidance before it started collecting taxes from investors in the country.