New Delhi. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has identified undisclosed income of Rs 888.82 crore in the form of virtual digital assets, which include cryptocurrencies and other assets that are stored, invested and traded through blockchain technology. The tax authority has sent 44,507 letters to these identified taxpayers warning them to disclose such income in the Schedule VDA of filing their Income Tax Returns (ITR).
Information recently shared by the Finance Ministry revealed that CBDT has sent this information under its campaign, NUDGE (Non-Intrusive Use of Data to Guide and Enable). The tax regulator will send SMS and emails to taxpayers to review and amend their tax details for the year 2024-25.
It is legally necessary to provide information
Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) are required to submit Specified and Suspicious Transaction Reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND). These reports are analyzed and shared with government investigating agencies for further action.
What did the Minister of State for Finance say in Parliament
"Data analytics tools, Project Insight and internal databases are used to match the VDA transaction information with the disclosures made in the ITR. TDS returns filed by Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and ITRs of taxpayers are also analyzed to identify discrepancies and take appropriate action," Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State under the Finance Ministry, said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
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Minister of State Chaudhary said that the Enforcement Directorate has attached, seized or frozen income worth Rs 4,189.89 crore received from Village Development Authorities (VDAs) after investigating several crypto-related cases under PMLA. So far 29 people have been arrested and 22 charges have been filed. One accused has been declared a fugitive economic offender.
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