IRS Plans On Forcing Tech Companies To Reveal Data About Cryptocurrency Users And Their Activity

The revenue authority’s bid to gain access to the records about crypto users may be an effort to counter fraudulent activity that is common around cryptocurrencies. This, however, goes against one of the main principles of cryptocurrency which is privacy.

Documents that are supposedly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have been shared on social media and the documents reflect a bid by the regulatory body to use Grand Jury subpoenas on tech companies to gain access to data about users who use cryptocurrencies. The IRS plans to use subpoenas to force tech firms such as Apple, Microsoft and Google to check on people’s crypto related download histories. If the IRS succeeds in getting this proposition to fruition, they would be able to access information regarding who downloaded applications that allow crypto transfers and who is using their devices for crypto-related business.

The IRS plans to use this method to get a hold of information about people who might be using cryptocurrency as a way to evade their taxes. The documents were shared by a certified professional accountant and crypto tax specialist, Laurah Walter, who is also known as Crypto Tax Girl. The presentation is supposed to have been for the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division. Through the documents, it has been revealed that the IRS is planning on engaging in interviews, open source and social media searches and electronic surveillance as part of their endeavor to uncover fraudulent activity committed using cryptocurrency.

Walter pointed out that the documents showed that the IRS intends to make it a point that the people under surveillance are not informed of the investigations by the body. This is said to be done in order to ensure that the people do not do anything that would be detrimental to the surveillance. The IRS would also be able to check on bank and PayPal accounts in their search for any links to the crypto related activity. It is quite clear that tax fraud through cryptocurrency is a huge concern for the IRS and they plan on putting forward measures to counter this fraudulent activity.