India wants to collect taxes from its cryptocurrency investors


India's income tax department has sent notices to tens of thousands of people dealing in cryptocurrency, after learning that $3.5 billion worth of transactions have been conducted over a 17-month period. The move comes as India's finance ministry grapples with regulations for virtual currencies, which are attracting around 200,000 users and raking in 20 billion Indian rupees ($315 million) worth of trade per month, reports Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has issued repeated warnings labeling digital currency investments "Ponzi schemes," amidst a backdrop of police complaints from hundreds of investors of fraudulent transactions. The tax department's notice asks those dealing in cryptocurrency (such as ethereum and ripple) to pay tax on capital gains. It also includes enquiries about their total holdings and source of funds. Like China before it, India is worried about its citizens trading on offshore exchanges.

Hitting a peak of almost $20,000 in December, Bitcoin recently plummeted to below $10,000 for the first time since November. Although the virtual currency is gradually being dragged into the financial mainstream in the US, courtesy of the Cboe's launch of the first bitcoin futures exchange, countries continue to struggle with its legitimization.

Late last month, South Korea -- the world's third largest cryptocurrency market, behind the US and Japan -- enacted new legislation for monitoring exchanges and banned the creation of anonymous cryptocurrency accounts. And, in the US, digital currency exchange Coinbase cried foul after a California court ordered it to share the financial info of over 14,000 users with the IRS.

Source: Reuters

via Engadget RSS Feed "http://ift.tt/2DwkWuv"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more