Financial administration NRW is targeting tax offices - 4,000 users of the crypto exchange Bitcoin.de affected

Financial administration NRW is targeting tax offices - 4,000 users of the crypto exchange Bitcoin.de affected

The Finance Administration of North Rhine-Westphalia has received access to an extensive data package with information about Bitcoin transactions since the beginning of June. The data was provided by the German crypto exchange Bitcoin.de as part of a collective search search and cover the period between 2015 and 2017. According to research on the trading sheet, the Finance Administration NRW focuses on users who have implemented at least 50,000 euros per year via the crypto exchange. This corresponds to about 4,000 users who are currently in the crosshairs of the authorities.

The data is currently compared with the tax returns of the data subjects and then forwarded to the responsible authorities in the federal territory. The NRW financial administration has developed new software to efficiently carry out the comparison. Tax sinners should therefore not weigh themselves in false security.

The question arises whether private profits that were achieved with cryptocurrencies are taxable at all. According to a judgment of the Federal Fiscal Court, the trade in cryptocurrencies is a private sale business within the meaning of the Income Tax Act. This means that private capital gains from cryptocurrencies in principle must be subject to income tax and specified in the tax return. However, a speculation period of one year applies, so profits only have to be taxed if the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies take place within one year. Anyone who lasts cryptocurrencies for more than a year can collect the profits completely tax -free. In addition, profits that do not exceed 600 euros within one year are also tax -free.

A new revision of the EU Directive DAC-8, which is about to adopt, will facilitate the checking of the correct taxation of crypto gains. According to this guideline, all providers of crypto services are obliged to report transactions from EU customers to the responsible authorities. Cross-border transactions and non-fungle tokens (NFT) are also taken into account. In the future, this will become a precise comparison of the control data in order to be able to combat tax evasion more effectively.

If you have failed to properly specify crypto profits, it is advisable to subsequently explain the non -taxed profits as part of a voluntary disclosure according to paragraph 371 of the Tax Code (AO). However, due to the complexity and severity of a tax offense, those affected should consider professional legal help. Because tax evasion can result in high fines or even a prison sentence of up to five years. It is therefore advisable to act quickly to avoid criminal consequences. It is not recommended to hope that tax liability will be issued, because the state sets great efforts to incorporate taxes. In this context, Benjamin Franklin's famous quote was reminiscent, who said: "There is nothing safe on earth, except death and taxes".

Source: C.Kusche/ Redaktion finanzen.net