Denmark’s Tax Agency to Collect Information About Bitcoin Traders

[Magician]

Danish tax authorities will soon be going after cryptocurrency traders in the country and beyond. The plan is to collect data from local bitcoin exchanges in order to verify if citizens who have traded digital assets have paid the right taxes. Information about foreign citizens and entities will be shared with other countries.   

Tax Agency Authorized to Gather Data From Three Danish Exchanges

Skattestyrelsen, the Danish Tax Agency, announced it has been authorized by the country’s Tax Council, Skatterådet, to obtain information about cryptocurrency trade conducted on three Danish exchanges between Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 31, 2018. The authority noted that it’s the first time it will access this kind of data. Karin Bergen, the agency’s director responsible for personal income tax collection, said:

With the permission of the Danish Tax Council, we will for the first time gain access to the trades made via Danish exchanges. This gives us new opportunities with respect to exerting control in the field.

The three platforms must now provide information about all purchases and sales of cryptocurrency made by their customers during the two-year period. They will be obliged to include identification information such as names, addresses, and CPR numbers, the personal ID numbers issued by the Danish Civil Registration System.

The decision to permit the Danish Tax Agency to collect the data was taken at the last meeting of the Tax Council in December. It followed news that the agency has been informed by Finland’s tax authorities about Danish citizens trading cryptocurrencies on a Finnish bitcoin exchange. The Danish tax body also plans to share information about crypto transactions made by foreign citizens and companies in Denmark with tax authorities in the respective countries.

Big Market That Needs to Be Looked Into

Skattestyrelsen is now contacting the Danish crypto exchanges in order to establish a procedure for the disclosure of the information. Once the data is received, the Tax Agency will ensure that citizens who have traded cryptocurrency have paid their taxes. Bergen further commented:

Without going too far, I think one can say this is a big market that we need to look into. When we recently received information from the Finnish bitcoin exchange, it gave us a small portion of the larger picture, which we now have the opportunity to uncover even more of. However, it’s still too early to tell how many traders are out there and how much money has been traded.

The Danish tax authority will adjust the tax base for each trader before the summer. Every case will be reviewed and treated individually to determine whether a cryptocurrency trade is part of the taxable income.

In December, the Tax Agency was tipped off by Finnish tax authorities about around 2,700 Danes trading on a cryptocurrency exchange based in Finland. According to the official estimate, the Danish citizens have traded coins worth more than 100 million krones (~$15 million) between 2015 and 2017.

Last month, the authority quoted a survey conducted by the National Tax Board which found that 450,000 Danes are considering shopping with cryptocurrency. The agency launched a campaign to inform taxpayers about their obligations but also the deductions they are entitled to.

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