The IRS and the Global Tax Enforcement are Analyzing Crypto Tax Evaders and Criminals

The criminal division of the U.S. Internal Revenue System (IRS) recently announced that it was able to identify dozens of people who were using cryptocurrencies to evade taxes or to commit crimes without getting caught. According to the IRS, the information was collected after officials from several other countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands had a meeting.

With the shared data, the department was able to find new leads to pursue. Ryan Korner, a senior agent, has affirmed that the cybercrime division of the IRS is developing an expertise in tracking people who are moving money around. Six months ago, he told Bloomberg, the unit did not have these same tools that they are using right now.

Now, the IRS is focusing on fighting cases of tax evasion which are tied to cryptos. Korner affirmed that tax fraud is not a new crime, but the technology that is helping people to commit it with more sophistication than they had before. In recent years, the agency has struggled to go after these types of criminals because its tech was not up to date, but it has finally assembled the right tools for the job.

The department is also preparing for a new cyber audit, which will send over 10,000 letters to people in order to subject them to penalties if they fail to pay their taxes to the government. To avoid punishing unaware people, the IRS has released its new guidelines for paying crypto taxes a few months ago. Now, they will track people who are not compliant with them.