The Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities have flagged 17 cryptocurrency exchanges for allegedly evading taxes totaling ₹824.14 crore. Minister of State (MoS) for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, disclosed this in a written response to the Lok Sabha, revealing that ₹122.29 crore, including interest and penalties, has been recovered so far.
Nest Services, a subsidiary of crypto giant Binance, accounted for a staggering 87% of the alleged evasion, amounting to ₹722.43 crore. WazirX parent company Zanmai Labs reportedly owes ₹40.51 crore, while CoinDCX and its Indian entity Neblio Technologies were booked for evading ₹26.63 crore. Other platforms under scrutiny include CoinSwitch Kuber (₹14.13 crore) and ZebPay (₹7 crore).
Additional entities like BuyUcoin, UnoCoin, and Flipvolt Technologies are also being investigated. Beyond exchanges, four individual crypto “investors” have been probed for evading ₹1.76 crore in taxes, with recoveries totaling ₹2.4 crore from these cases.
Currently, 47 virtual digital asset (VDA) service providers are registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) under the Ministry of Finance. These entities are mandated to comply with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and India’s VDA taxation framework to operate legally.
The mounting GST liabilities, coupled with the stringent regulatory requirements, are expected to increase compliance costs for crypto exchanges, potentially impacting their operations amid the ongoing crypto market boom. The government’s focus on transparency signals heightened scrutiny of the rapidly growing crypto sector.
