A man was arrested on suspicion of concealing income of more than NIS 11 million generated from virtual currency

A Jerusalem resident was arrested on suspicion of concealing income of more than NIS 11 million allegedly generated from virtual currency exchange transactions. According to the suspicion, he did not report his income for this activity and submitted a false report, in order to evade paying tax.
In the background of the arrest are the agreements between Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Knesset Speaker MK Miki Levy on the removal of a series of laws from the Arrangements Law, which intends to require reporting to the tax authority on anyone holding virtual currencies in excess of NIS 200,000. The Tax Authority has decided that under the existing law, those who did not report high profits can be blamed for evading tax and fraud in the annual report, so this arrest was made today and more arrests are expected.
The arrest was preceded by an undercover investigation conducted in a diamond unit of the Tax Authority in collaboration with the National Tax Unit of the Tax Authority, which focused on Israeli residents who hold virtual currencies in Israel and trade in them, while seizing high profits. The investigation revealed the name of a Jerusalem resident who allegedly carried out a large number of purchases and sales of various virtual assets since 2017, without reporting this profit to the Tax Authority.
During the covert investigation, many transactions of virtual currency, such as Bitcoin, Etherium, Lightcoin and more, were allegedly found, amounting to millions of shekels. Addresses of digital wallets associated with the suspect were also found, and their use was allegedly intended to obscure his identity as the owner of the funds. Yesterday, the investigation became public, a search of his home was conducted, many investigative materials were seized, and the suspect was detained for questioning.
The findings of the investigation raise suspicion that the virtual currency trader did not submit the annual report for 2017, even though he had virtual currency conversion income in the high amount of at least NIS 5 million. Only for income in the amount of NIS 43,000 from his income as an employee and for income he received from the National Insurance Institute in the amount of NIS 33,000.
According to the suspicion, the suspect did not include in this report any report on income he had from dealing in cryptocurrencies in the amount of at least NIS 6.3 million, and did not indicate that he had income from the realization of a virtual currency. In the report. In doing so, he submitted a false report to the tax authority.