The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reportedly launched an operation aimed at cryptocurrency investors. The team called “Operation Hidden Treasure” consists of agents trained in cryptocurrency and transaction tracking.
- Damon Rowe, executive director of the IRS Office of Fraud Enforcement, introduced Operation Hidden Treasure at a Federal Bar Association’s anti-fraud presentation last week, Forbes reported. The longtime veteran of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division stated that the office has assembled a dedicated team of IRS Criminal Investigations experts to work on this operation.
- Operation Hidden Treasure, a partnership between the Civil Anti-Fraud Office and the Criminal Investigation Department, aims to “root out tax evasion among cryptocurrency owners,” the publication said.
- The team that worked on Operation Hidden Treasure consisted of agents trained in the field of cryptocurrency and tracking crypto transactions. They focus on taxpayers who leave out cryptocurrency revenue on their tax returns.
- Carolyn Schenck, advisor to the National Fraud Counsel and Assistance Division of the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, described Operation Hidden Treasure as “all about finding, tracking and attributing crypto to US taxpayers”.
- Schenck stated that the IRS is working with specialists to identify and investigate various “tax evasion signatures”. These signatures may include “structuring” that sets up transactions in increments of less than $ 10,000 to avoid certain tax reporting requirements. This includes using nominees, shell companies, or getting in and out of the chain.
- The IRS and these specialists analyze “Blockchain and de-anonymization [cryptocurrency] Transactions ”, it says in the publication, in order to“ prosecute, find and confiscate crypto in both civil and criminal terms ”.
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