New Delhi: Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told Parliament that tax authorities have detected undisclosed income of Rs 888.82 crore from Virtual Digital Asset (VDA) transactions during recent search and seizure operations.
Chaudhary said crypto-assets remain unregulated in India and, given their borderless nature, require strong international coordination for any effective regulatory framework.
Chaudhary said the Central Board of Direct Taxes has uncovered several tax-evasion cases linked to cryptocurrencies, with the Income Tax Department initiating actions such as e-verification, reassessment, surveys and search operations. Under the CBDT’s NUDGE campaign, 44,057 communications were issued to taxpayers who traded in VDAs but did not report them in their income-tax returns.
It should be noted that data analytics systems, including Project Insight, internal databases and TDS filings from Virtual Asset Service Providers, are being used to identify discrepancies between VDA transactions and taxpayer disclosures.
Chaudhary added that VDAs have been brought under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, requiring VASPs to file specified and suspicious transaction reports.
In relation to crypto-cases, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has so far attached or seized assets worth Rs 4,189.89 crore, arrested 29 individuals and filed 22 prosecution complaints in crypto-linked cases.
The government is also conducting specialised training to strengthen digital forensics capabilities and improve monitoring of VDA-related activities.
