Crypto industry enraged over mounting taxes as govt mulls 28% GST

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

virtual digital assets (VDAs), which will be at par with the GST applicable on casinos, betting and lottery. According to the media reports, services such as crypto mining, with sales and purchases, are likely to attract the 28 per cent GST if the proposal is presented and approved in the next GST council meeting. The meeting's date is not finalized yet. However, the buzz wreaked havoc on the crypto community, which is already feeling the heat of 30 per cent taxations and 1 per cent TDS applicable from July 1.

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The flabbergasted industry participants argue that cryptocurrencies are an asset class with varied use cases across industries and are not akin to gambling or lottery. They have their fundamentals and aesthetics, they add. Aritra Sarkhel, Director, Public Policy at WazirX, said that the latest movement of the crypto market is mirroring the financial markets across the globe. «The industry is open to dialogue with the larger GST council on such matters,» he added. It will be great if deliberations are made to keep the taxation on VDAs in line with India’s treatment of other financial instruments and/or evaluate the different use cases of the tokens while making decisions on crypto taxation, he said. Market experts fear that large trade volumes will move to international or decentralised exchanges outside the purview of the government with tax evasion becoming a larger issue. They fear that crypto and blockchain-based companies will treat this on par with a ban and move to favourable