India Govt. to charge 18% tax on Crypto Earnings

This was probably long awaited and in my personal opinion a welcome move to tax crypto gains as it will ease the uncertainty around dealing with them. By making it a taxable it increases the legitimacy of buying/selling/trading in crypto which was much required.

India is working on proposals to make cryptocurrency transactions subject to goods and services tax (GST), sources told Bloomberg May 23.

According to the anonymous parties with “direct knowledge” of the plans, the government’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes is considering applying the 18 percent tax to exchange operations, which it would view as “intangible goods.”

“Purchase or sale of cryptocurrencies should be considered as supply of goods, and those facilitating transactions like supply, transfer, storage, accounting, among others, will be treated as services,” the publication reports in a summary.

India has so far refrained from issuing regulations on cryptocurrency, despite efforts by its central bank to reduce the ability of businesses and citizens to interact with them.

In April, the Reserve Bank of India formally forbade domestic institutions from servicing cryptocurrency businesses in a move which has so far failed to curb the proliferation of new exchanges.

Full article here