Five Countries Join Forces to Withstand Cryptocurrency Tax Crimes

Tax authorities from 5 countries announced the emergence of an alliance called the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, or “The J5.”

The J5 members aim at combating cryptocurrency tax crimes through concerted efforts and include the British HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) & the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), the American Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the Dutch Fiscale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst (FIOD).

According to the statement on the homepage of the IRS, the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement believe that financial tools and offshore structures used for money laundering and committing  tax crimes are destructive for the interests of the member countries. They also mentioned that they will collaborate together to mitigate the threat to tax authorities posted by digital currencies and cybercrime.

It should be remembered that the IRS considers Bitcoin as property for federal tax purposes, while only few cryptocurrency owners report to tax authorities.