The Japanese authorities do not hesitate to hunt down someone who is believed to be a crypto tax evader. An Ishikawa court has sentenced one of them, a 56-year-old man who will spend a year in prison, plus a $ 200,000 fine.
The convicted man did not disclose his BTC trading activity for the 2017-2018 period
Chunichi said a judge in Kanazawa District Court fined over 22 million yen ($ 200,000) and sentenced Hideji Matsuda, an office worker in Ishikawa, to a year imprisonment for violating income tax laws.
The judge concluded that the man had not knowingly filed accurate tax returns on his Bitcoin (BTC) trading activity. According to court documents, Matsuda did not declare the 2017-2018 period.
In addition, the court found that the clerk had falsified his tax filings by claiming he had just made a profit of 1.2 million yen ($ 11,000). In reality, he received a total income of 74 million yen ($ 678,000) and did not pay any taxes.
When his attorneys interviewed Matsuda at the hearings, he claimed he had no clarity on how to calculate profits from crypto income. However, the prosecution stated otherwise. In fact, they believe the 56 year old man was “selfish and self-centered”.
Matsuda’s attorneys have already pledged a pardon when they said the man had petitioned to change the issue and properly file tax records.
However, the judge rejected such a proposal and proceeded with the verdict. At the end of the trial, Matsuda only commented on the sentence: “There is no doubt.”
An unprecedented case in Japan
This litigation is the first of its kind in Japan. This makes Matsuda the first person in the Land of the Rising Sun to be convicted of Bitcoin tax evasion. The trial began in 2020.
In the Asian country, crypto-related activities such as mining, trading and credit gains are subject to taxes of up to 55%.
What do you think of the sentence against the Japanese crypto tax evader? Let us know in the comments below.
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