Australian Tax Office seeks data from 1.2 million crypto exchange users: Report

Australia’s tax office reportedly seeks personal data and transaction details from up to 1.2 million cryptocurrency exchange users for a potential crackdown on crypto tax obligations.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) said that the data will help identify traders who may have failed to pay their taxes on their crypto trades, according to a notice issued last month seen by Reuters .

The ATO will be seeking personal data including users’ date of birth, social media accounts, and phone numbers, as well as transaction-related details like wallet addresses, type of coins trades, and bank account details.

For Australian regulators, cryptocurrencies are taxable assets, unlike other foreign currencies. This requires traders to pay a capital gains tax on the profit from sold crypto assets.

The news of the potential tax collection crackdown comes during a highly profitable time for crypto investors. Bitcoin ( BTC ) rallied over 44% since the beginning of the year, while Ether ( ETH ) rose 32% year-to-date (YTD).

The market capitalization of the top altcoins, excluding Bitcoin and Ether, also rose over 27% YTD, according to TradingView data.

The complex nature of the cryptocurrency space can lead to a lack of awareness when it comes to tax obligations, according to ATO’s notice:

"The ability to purchase crypto assets using false information may make them attractive to those seeking to avoid their tax obligations."

A global crypto tax crackdown may be incoming

Australia isn’t the only jurisdiction seeking to collect unpaid taxes from digital asset gains.

On Monday, the director general of the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) compliance branch, Sahil Behal, said that the agency is conducting over 400 crypto-related audits and investigating hundreds of crypto investors to secure unpaid crypto taxes, according to a May 6 report by the National Post .

Related: Robinhood crypto business slapped with SEC Wells notice

These latest audits come on top of the suspected $39.5 million worth of unpaid taxes which the Canadian tax agency believes are still due from the fiscal year of 2023-2024.

In  Turkey, the government is expected to introduce crypto-related legislation later this year. The new bill is expected to provide a legal foundation for crypto taxes in Turkey, which is a leading crypto economy.

In the United States regulators are aiming to raise the long-term capital gains tax rate to 44.6% , but only for investors earning over $1 million a year.

The same Federal Budget proposal from the Biden administration also included a 25% tax on unrealized gains for ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

“For 99.9% of people, it’s a big, fat nothing burger because it’s essentially just a proposal,” Matthew Walrath, founder of Crypto Tax Made Easy, told Cointelegraph.

Related: Bitcoin distribution ‘danger zone’ over, analysts say