BENGALURU/HYDERABAD : Income Tax officials on Wednesday conducted surveys on different Bitcoin exchanges in Bengaluru and other parts of the country.According to sources in the Karnataka-Goa Income Tax directorate, the survey was carried out under Section 133A of the Income Tax Act. Officials said that various teams under the command of Bengaluru investigation wing, on Wednesday visited the premises of nine such exchanges across the country in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Gurugram.
The aim is to gather evidence for “establishing the identities of the investors and traders, transactions undertaken by them, identities of the counterparts, related bank accounts used, etc,” said a source.
More details regarding the survey is expected to be revealed by I-T officials in the next few days. Sources said that the survey was necessitated due to a rapid surge in Bitcoin investments to evade taxes, especially after demonetisation.
Moreover, the virtual currency is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause of concern among central bankers across the world for a while now.Similarly, on the suspicion of alleged tax evasion, the I-T department conducted survey in Hyderabad too.The survey teams, as per sources, are armed with various financial data and inputs about the working of these exchanges and this is the first big action against them in the country.The Reserve Bank of India has also cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins.
In March, the Union finance ministry had constituted an inter-disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of virtual currencies both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with such currencies.Recently, a couple based in Bengaluru were in the news for seeking bitcoins for their wedding from those attending it. They stated that though the future of bitcoins is unknown, they wanted to take the risk.