The Israeli Ministry of Finance has published a bill requiring investors to report to tax authorities when they own crypto assets worth over $ 61,000.
The new bill, presented by the Israeli Ministry of Finance, is included in the draft Law on Regulations, which contains forthcoming amendments to economic policy and is submitted to parliament along with the annual budget.
Under the “enhanced oversight” section of the proposed bill for virtual currencies, the reporting requirement is aimed at streamlining tax collection on income from cryptoassets.
If the bill is approved, the owners of cryptocurrencies will have to report to the Tax Service about assets, the value of which exceeds 200,000 NIS (about $ 61,000), if the assets have been owned for at least one day. The Israeli cryptocurrency community has expressed dissatisfaction with the new regulatory initiative.
“The Israeli cryptocurrency community is shocked by this news and hopes that regulators will come to their senses and work with local entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency users to get their policies right,” said CryptoTalks founder Ben Samocha.
The bill also contains penalties for using cash as financial regulators try to root out Israel’s black economy. Under the bill, the Israel Tax Authority has proposed an amendment to the reporting of ownership of cryptocurrencies to reduce the amount of black capital in Israel’s markets and to disclose unrecorded assets and revenues.
Samoha said that while he understands the desire of regulators to track money laundering and terrorist financing, this does not mean that BTC holders in Israel should be treated “as criminals” in the first place. The bill is open for public comment until July 31, and community members are hoping they will be able to change the law.
Recently it became known that South Korea will tighten measures to combat tax evasion by cryptocurrency investors and high-income individuals – the country plans to confiscate crypto assets for tax evasion.
