This article was published on March 7, 2019

Canada’s tax agency asks cryptocurrency investors for 10 year trading history


Canada’s tax agency asks cryptocurrency investors for 10 year trading history

Canada’s tax agency is reportedly cracking down on cryptocurrency investors in the country.

Multiple sources have confirmed that cryptocurrency holders have been targeted with audits by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), according to Forbes.

The agency is thought to have sent questionnaires probing investors about their bitcoin-related activity over the past decade.

Today’s news comes after scammers posing as the CRA contacted unsuspecting civilians to demand tax payments in Bitcoin last year.

A struggle

Due to the fact that they’re unregulated, governments have found it notoriously difficult to tax cryptocurrencies. In fact, Canada is not the first country to launch such a probe. 

In the US, the International Revenue Service (IRS) demanded that Coinbase turn over vast amounts of user data last year. 

However, Coinbase was able to fight the decision in court and limited the scope of the data collected by the tax agency.

Over in Australia, ‘big four’ accountancy firm KPMG launched a “Crypto Tax Estimator” to help Australian hodlers figure out how much tax they could owe based on their trading gains.

More recently, fellow accountancy giant EY launched a similar tool, although it’s only currently available for institutional investors.

Want more blockchain news? Come to TNW2019, our tech conference in Amsterdam, and check out our Hard Fork track.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with