This morning, millionaire broker and noted Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff awoke to find his bank under renewed scrutiny due to an international criminal investigation. According to reporting from Australian newspaper The Age and The New York Times, the J5 -- a joint task force of tax authorities from major Western governments convened in the wake of the bombshell publication of the Panama Papers -- have placed “hundreds” of accounts at Schiff’s Puerto Rico-based Euro Pacific Bank under investigation for tax evasion and other financial crimes. The reports detail what appears to be a comically inept organization responsible for harboring the …

The Korea Blockchain Association has called for the government’s new 20% crypto trading tax plan to be delayed for another two years. According to an Oct. 14 report from News1 Korea, the Korea Blockchain Association, or KBA, is requesting regulators postpone the South Korean government’s implementation of its long awaited new tax strategy until Jan. 1, 2023. The KBA doesn’t explicitly state it is against the 20% tax rate but said that crypto exchanges and companies in the industry need a “reasonable period” to prepare for the Income Tax Act. One of KBA’s reasons for the delay is due to …

A study of cryptocurrency taxation regimes from around the world by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, found that global crypto taxation laws are highly inconsistent. Source: OECD Report. The way crypto assets are defined vary greatly by jurisdiction. Cryptocurrency is most commonly defined as a “financial instrument or asset”, followed by a “commodity or virtual commodity." In the U.S., the asset class remains mostly undefined for tax purposes. Source: OECD Report. The same inconsistency is observed when it comes to determining the first taxable event for mined cryptocurrency assets. The most common approach here is to …

Awaiting parliamentary approval in Spain, a fresh bill draft intends to cut out illegal tax dealings, as first reported by Cointelegraph’s Spanish branch. This could mean smaller business transactions as well as mandatory crypto-asset reporting, even for assets held or transacted internationally. The "Draft Law on Measures to Prevent and Combat Tax Fraud" recently received the green light from the Spanish Council of Ministers, Spain’s central governing entity, according to an Oct. 13 briefing from the country’s minister of finance, María Jesús Montero. When cryptocurrency began to take more of a global spotlight in 2017, some countries began to step …

The EU decided to remove Cayman Islands from its blacklist of tax heavens on Tuesday. The Cayman Islands is a popular jurisdiction for crypto businesses. It was added to the EU's blacklist in February of this year, so it has spent fewer than six months on the list. In 2019, the six exchanges domiciled there were responsible for over $1.5 billion in international Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Though these numbers pale in comparison to the global leader — the Seychelles, whose 12 exchanges were responsible for $36 billion, the Seychelles remain on the blacklist and are categorized as a nation that …

One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, once said: “But in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While this phrase was realized in 1789, the same still holds true today. The only difference is that taxes are slowly but surely catching up with crypto assets. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Big Four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has just released its first annual Crypto Tax Index as part of the “Global Crypto Tax Report.” The detailed report contains the latest global crypto tax developments, along with crypto tax …

New Zealand businesses must now submit information on their clients' digit asset usage to the country's tax regulator, the Inland Revenue Department, or IRD. The governing body said it wants to get a better grasp on the crypto scene in the country and determine an applicable tax framework for the asset class, according to a statement reported by Radio New Zealand, or RNZ. In addition to specifics around crypto usage, the IRD will also request associated client information, RNZ wrote. The IRD is not the only government body dialing in on digital asset taxation. The IRS, the U.S.' tax authority, …

Four members of the Israeli legislature are recommending that digital currencies be treated more like fiat for tax purposes. According to a report from Israeli news outlet Globes, Knesset members MK Oded Forer, Yevgeny Soba, Yulia Malinovsky, and Alex Kushnir proposed on Sept. 22 that the government body amend existing tax law so that digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) would not be subject to capital gains taxes. Under current income tax policy, Bitcoin is treated as an asset and taxed 25% whenever individuals convert their tokens into fiat, or 15% for short-term lenders. “The regulatory reality in Israel is not …

Russia’s Ministry of Finance is continuing to push regulations for the cryptocurrency industry by proposing new tax requirements. The ministry now reportedly wants to introduce criminal liability for failure to declare taxes on crypto, including prison terms of up to three years. According to a Sept. 24 report by Kommersant, the ministry proposes that individuals who fail to report an amount of over 1 million Russian rubles ($13,000) in annual crypto operations should serve a three-year prison term or hard labor. The ministry also proposed major fines for smaller unreported amounts. As such, any physical or legal entity in Russia …

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to focus on bringing blockchain technology to their financial services, along with the needed regulatory upgrades to keep the burgeoning fintech industry clean. Related: Not like before: Digital currencies debut amid COVID-19 For example, on Sep. 10, Switzerland — a global center for the wealth management industry, housing around $2 trillion or 27% of global offshore wealth — passed a reformed Blockchain Act that includes a new set of laws and regulations to support the growth of blockchain and decentralized finance companies in the country. Related: Why Switzerland is becoming a “crypto nation” …

Every Friday, Law Decoded delivers analysis on the week’s critical stories in the realms of policy, regulation and law. Editor’s note One of the most persistent myths about Bitcoin is its supposed anonymity. More properly termed pseudonymity, BTC wallets are permanently tied to their public keys. Most of you know that. But it took government investigators years of trying to corral Bitcoin transactions on dark web marketplaces like the Silk Road to figure that out. Now, however, blockchain analysis is a growing industry, catering to a range of clients including many of the most shadowy of government agencies. This was …

On Sept. 8, the IRS’s criminal investigation department signed a $249,900 contract with a blockchain analytics firm to expand its crypto tracing tools. The contract provides limited information, but it follows an overarching trend of the IRS stepping up its game when it comes to crypto. The firm behind the contract, Blockchain Analytics and Tax Software, is a relative unknown compared to familiar faces in analytics like Chainalysis. The firm’s only prior government contract was for only $9,800 with the U.S. Treasury for serving as an expert witness. Just last week the IRS put out a request for submissions for …