PUTRAJAYA, June 15 — The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) recently carried out a special operation codenamed Ops Token, in line with the government’s desire to reduce tax revenue leakage from cryptocurrency trading and improve the country’s tax administration.
The operation, held in collaboration with the Royal Malaysia Police and CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM), involved 38 personnel and was conducted simultaneously in 10 different locations in the Klang Valley.
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“Through the operation, cryptocurrency trading data stored in mobile devices and computers were found and we successfully identified the value of digital assets being traded, which caused a very significant leakage of tax revenue,” said the the IRB in a statement today.
“The data obtained will be analysed in detail to obtain the value of the cryptocurrency assets traded and profits generated from the activity thus identifying the true value of tax leakage that was never delcared to the IRB.”
The operation found that several corporate entities and limited liability partnerships were intentionally formed for cryptocurrency trading transactions solely to avoid declaring taxes.
Meanwhile, IRB chief executive officer Datuk Dr Abu Tariq Jamaluddin said in the same statement that any individual involved in cryptocurrency trading in the country is subject to income tax in Malaysia.
Therefore, he advises any party carrying out cryptocurrency trading activities to come forward to declare their taxes at any nearby IRB office as soon as possible before compliance action is taken.
The implementation of this operation is expected to increase revenue by reducing leakages and increasing tax efficiency which will contribute to the sustainability of the country’s revenue collection.
For further information to the Guidelines for the Treatment of Taxes on Digital Currency Transactions, visit https://phl.hasil.gov.my/pdf/pdfam/GP_LAYANAN_CUKAI_KE_ATAS_TRANSAKSI_MATA_WANG_DIGITAL.pdf. — Bernama