Startup grouping IndiaTech writes to FM for clarity on crypto taxation

IndiaTech, an industry association representing consumer internet startups, has written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, seeking clarity on crypto taxation in Union Budget 2022-23.

IndiaTech represents all the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, some of which have come under the scanner for evading goods and services tax, as reported by ET. CoinSwitch Kuber, WazirX and CoinDCX, are members of the industry body.

In the letter, parts of which have been reviewed by ETtech, IndiaTech has appealed to the government to tweak existing tax laws to include crypto assets, and sought clarity on the method of taxation and their disclosures. The letter comes against the backdrop of a much delayed Cryptocurrency Bill 2021, which was to be introduced in the recently concluded winter session of the parliament.

The budget should ideally offer coherent rules on direct taxation and the GST Council should detail the applicability of taxation, else there will be confusion, Rameesh Kailasam, president and chief executive of IndiaTech, told ETtech. Basically, the line of thinking is that we shouldn’t be waiting for a bill alone and the Budget should begin the process. userwalls