THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE OF SPAIN WILL CONDUCT AN INSPECTION OF 15 000 TAXPAYERS OWNING CRYPTOCURRENCIES

The Ministry of Finance of Spain will carry out an inspection of 15,000 taxpayers who carried out transactions in the cryptocurrency last year, reported the largest Spanish newspaper El País.

The Spanish tax authorities, with the assistance of the Ministry of Finance, will check the “fiscal coverage of these new technologies, like blockchain, and especially cryptocurrencies” to prevent tax evasion crimes as part of the annual scheduled inspection.

The tax investigation department, which is already investigating the activities of dozens of companies, banks and intermediaries in Spain, has chosen a group of 15,000 taxpayers for a more thorough inspection.

The tax service will check that they have received in the budget the tax on profit from cryptocurrency activities, and review residents for facilitating money laundering.

In April, the tax service of Spain also sent requests to financial companies to provide information on the amounts and participants of transactions with cryptocurrencies. Earlier this fall, the Spanish government approved a preliminary draft of the bill, according to which investors will have to report their cryptocurrency profits to the tax authorities.