“J5” Joint Tax Authority Group Collaborating to Identify Cryptocurrency Tax Evaders

Tax officials from Australia, the US, Britain, the Netherlands, and Canada have formed a “J5” collaborative group now investigating 60 “lines of inquiry” regarding international tax evasion using cryptocurrencies, The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reports.

“The J5 was formed a year ago because of growing concern that tax avoidance, cybercrime, and cryptocurrency abuse were escalating as criminals exploited differences between national tax laws,” SMH writes.

According to the outlet, since the J5 was formed, participants have shared more data than they did the previous decade.

According to the Will Day, Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Tax Authority (ATO), the ATO is now directly involved in approximately one dozen J5 investigations, at least one of which is focussing on a “global financial institution (and intermediaries)” enabling clients to hide assets and income.

SMH also paraphrased Day as stating that the ATO possesses, ”
…clear evidence of people based in Australia who were facilitating the avoidance of tax or partnering with others in overseas jurisdictions in criminal activity.”

The volumes of data being shared by the J5 are yielding straight up evidence of crime, with intermediaries also being implicated, Day stated:

“At no other time have criminals been at greater risk of being caught…In Australia, they are often intermediaries who are playing a role between the tax evader and an offshore entity.”

Day added that tax evasion using cryptocurrencies is, “not a victimless crime…At the Australian level, there is definitely legitimate use for investment in cryptocurrencies, but we’re also seeing the use of them to facilitate tax crimes.”