Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said people are already paying taxes on capital gains derived from crypto trading.
The government is mulling changes in the income tax laws to bring cryptocurrencies under the tax net, with some changes that could form part of the Budget next year, a top official said.
Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said that in terms of income tax, some people are already paying capital gains tax on the income from cryptocurrency, and in respect of Goods and Services Tax (GST) also the law is “very clear” that the rate would be applicable as those in case of other services.
“We will take a call. I understand that already people are paying taxes on it. Now that it has really grown a lot, we will see whether we can actually bring in some changes in law position or not. But that would be a Budget activity. We are already nearing the Budget, we have to look at that point of time,” Bajaj told PTI in an interview.
Asked if a provision of TCS (Tax collected at Source) could be introduced for crypto trading, the Secretary said “if we come up with a new law then we will see what is to be done”.
“But yes, if you make money you have to pay taxes… We have already got some taxes, some have treated it as an asset and paid capital gains tax on it,” he said.
“They have to get themselves registered. The GST law is very clear. If there is an activity, if there is a broker who is helping people and charging brokerage fee, GST would get charged,” he said.
In September, El Salvador was the first country to have made the unregulated asset a legal tender. The country’s government had claimed that regularisation into the mainstream would help many citizens access banking services for the first time. As per BBC, President Nayib Bukele says the cryptocurrency will help Salvadorans working abroad to send money back home. The move triggered several protests by citizens fearing economic and financial instability in the Latin American country.
