The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has announced intensified efforts to target individuals who fail to report income from cryptocurrency transactions in their tax filings.
According to IRD spokesperson Trevor Jeffries, cryptocurrencies are classified as property for tax purposes, requiring individuals to declare earnings from selling, trading, or exchanging them as taxable income. Jeffries highlighted that IRD has identified 227,000 cryptocurrency users in New Zealand, involved in approximately 7 million transactions totaling $7.8 billion during the last fiscal year.
“We want taxpayers and tax professionals to understand that we are enhancing our compliance measures for individuals holding cryptoassets,” Jeffries stated. He emphasized the misconception that transactions on blockchain are anonymous, affirming IRD’s capability to utilize tools and analytics to detect and disclose cryptoasset activities.
Jeffries also mentioned IRD’s adoption of the cryptoasset reporting framework, enabling access to additional transaction data from customers’ international activities.
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