- Spain to introduce new bill on tax evasion
- Russia also to tow the same path
Due to the growing trends of tax evasion globally, the central government of one of the countries in the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, has announced it plans to compel crypto assets owners to declare their gains and current holdings on their crypto assets. This was made known by a spokeswoman attached to the government, Maria Jesus Montero.
The Spanish government made it known that it would be drafting a bill which will be a part of a larger and a more concise push towards helping the government nab tax defaulters and evaders.
In 2018, Bloomberg had reported how a bill submitted then forced financial companies to provide information on their clients who might have been trading in cryptocurrency. The bill required that the clients be named, and their trading records should also be released to the Spanish Tax Agency.
Recall that John McAfee was recently arrested in Spain based on charges of tax evasions.
Similar Tax Evasion Bill in Russia
The Russian government had, two years ago, drafted a bill that required government officials to reveal if they had any cryptocurrency investments.
Recently also, the Ministry of Finance in Russia released a bill that seeks to amend the Tax Code, the Russian Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Administrative Code, and laws that govern the act of money laundering.
According to this new bill, crypto exchange firms and users with crypto assets are expected to quarterly declare their activities on the crypto market to the appropriate tax body.
The bill also seeks to punish those who fail to abide by this new law by fining them a minimum of 30% of all of their crypto assets.
Many cryptocurrency experts and users have declared that this new rule is too harsh and it does not reflect the gravity of the offence being said to be committed.
However, the Russian government has made it known that a decision has not been made about the acceptance of the bill as it is still considering it for its merit.
