Japanese government to tax BTC and other cryptocurrencies from 2020

As per a survey by the National Tax Agency (NTA), more than 300 individuals declared that they have earned at least 100 million yen, majorly from cryptocurrency trade in 2017. As such, the NTA will be able to demand information from transaction mediation businesses on customers who are suspected of evading taxes on their crypto earnings. This system will be incorporated into the tax reform for the 2019 fiscal year, but the government will allow the tax authority to ask information on only those who are suspected to have earned at least 10 million yen from crypto transactions.

Until now, the profits gained from the cryptocurrency were declared as miscellaneous income under the Income Tax Act. However, after the system is introduced, these will have to be declared as income. The NTA is determined to take stringent measures against the evaders, but for the moment, the agency is only able to ask virtual currency trading and other businesses to provide information of their customers voluntarily. After the reform, the NTA will be allowed to require information including the customers’ names, addresses, and even their 12-digit identification numbers.