Ukraine to Criminally Arraign Cryptocurrency Tax Offenders

The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has assumed a stiff stance against citizens who do not disclose their cryptocurrency holdings on their tax fillings. The bill, which passed with 283 votes out of 450 members, seeks to criminalize the evasive act and aims at fining or jailing offenders.

According to the bill, domestic cryptocurrency investors with over $4,050 worth of non-declared crypto-asset holdings are liable to be prosecuted. Offenders could serve as much as a two-year sentence or pay fines ranging between $162,100 and $202,950.

The bill also asserted that erroneous commitment of data would also get targeted by the authorities. Besides, those who admit to the offense before a court are also liable to face charges by the Ukrainian authorities.

Public Servants are Not Exempt from the Law
Meanwhile, Forklog—a cryptocurrency media house in Russia—revealed a document filed by a group of top cryptocurrency investors/leaders in Ukraine (called Blockchain4Ukraine), which intends to strong-arm public officials into disclosing their crypto wallets as a show of public transparency.

Although the Ukrainian parliament has passed it, the crypto tax bill will return to the committee stage for a second reading before its final approval.

Reports show that the latest declaration of cryptocurrency holding by Ukrainian public officials ran up to $1 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC).

Sergiy Petukhov, the head of the Mandatory Inspections Department at the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption, noted that his office has conducted over 250 checks this year, including public officials.

He revealed that some officials declared that their filings had some error in them and cautioned against such reports. Petukhov warned that data discovered to be inaccurate is not excusable and that “this is the basis for administrative or criminal liability.”

 

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