Bitcoin Tax Evasion Will Be Criminally Punishable: IRS Warns

Bitcoin tax evasion will be criminally punishable since the IRS announced that they will hunt down Bitcoin users that will not pay their taxes. According to their reports which we have in our altcoin news today, the agency is set to clamp down on tax evaders stronger than ever.

The IRS tax investigator Gary Alford says that the agency has been cautious about pursuing those who avoid paying their taxes because of the rapidly-evolving tech industry. The law has been changing many times and was not following the steps of technological advances. Alford says that this time, however, the IRS is ‘’ahead of the curve.’’

The IRS will also release a new guideline for cryptocurrencies somewhere at the end of June or the beginning of July. He also made remarks during a panel discussion about tax consequences and cryptocurrencies. Alford noted that it would be much easier for a prosecutor to convince a jury into convicting a person who has not been paying his taxes now that the people are much more familiar with crypto. He also stated that it would have been much harder to prosecute a tax evader because many of the jurors did not know what Bitcoin was until recently:

 “We’re usually behind the curve. But in this case, we are ahead of the curve. We already are aware that there were cases to be made. We just didn’t know if we were at the point where we can bring it for criminal prosecution. We believe we are at that point now. If we had 12 jurors and told them someone made all their money in bitcoin, we believe that they would understand.”

Alford is an IRS agent who became extremely popular in 2013 in his Silk Road online drug trafficking case which ended with the arrest of Ross Ulbricht. Ross is currently serving a double life sentence and is not eligible for parole. Alford also mentioned that recreational Bitcoin investors should not be tricked into believing that the IRS is not aware that many of them actually do bitcoin tax evasion so he warned them to do so. As reported in the latest cryptocurrency news, you should know that you need to pay taxes if you sell crypto, convert it into fiat currency, use it to buy goods or receive free crypto.