IRS team reports rise in crypto tax investigations

According to the fiscal year 2023 report, the IRS unit investigated failures to disclose crypto holdings and report on capital gains for transactions.

The Criminal Investigation (CI) Unit of the United Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported an increase in the number of investigations around digital asset reporting.

In its annual report released on Dec. 4, the IRS investigative arm said it had initiated more than 2,676 cases in which it had identified more than $37 billion related to tax and financial crimes in the 2023 fiscal year.

“These investigations consist of unreported income resulting from failure to report capital gains from the sale of cryptocurrency, income earned from mining cryptocurrency, or income received in the form of cryptocurrency, such as wages, rental income, and gambling winnings,” said the Criminal Investigation Unit.

Our FY23 Annual Report highlights more than 2,600 investigations, $37.1 billion identified from tax and financial crimes. #IRSC #ByTheNumbers#WhatWeDoCounts
https://t.co/B1hZw8ClXm pic.twitter.com/EZWQKNB2uu

— IRS Criminal Investigation (@IRS_CI) December 4, 2023

Related: IRS extends comments period for new crypto tax rule to mid-November

Starting in 2019, the IRS began requiring U.S. In the report, CI chief Jim Lee said that “most people using cryptocurrency do so for legitimate purposes,” but digital assets pose a risk for financing terrorism, ransomware attacks, and other illicit activities.

Since it began increasing efforts to investigate crimes involving cryptocurrency in 2015, the IRS has seized more than $10 billion in digital assets.

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