More than a dozen searches have been conducted by Romanian authorities on people who are allegedly hiding income from bitcoin-related businesses. After an earlier investigation revealed that cryptocurrency traders had failed to register digital assets worth more than $50 million, the searches were conducted in late 2022.
According to the local media, police and tax authorities in Romania carried out 17 raids in the fall of last year as part of a probe into people who were allegedly evading taxes by hiding income from bitcoin trading.
Addresses were checked in Bucharest as well as the counties of Dâmbovița, Ilfov, and Olt, according to Cristian Roman, partner at the law firm Iordăchescu & Asociații, who shared the information
The attorney was making reference to data given by Romanian authorities. 19 individuals were targeted, according to law enforcement officials in the EU nation, and between 2019 and 2022, they formed or joined an organized crime ring with the intention of evading taxes. Authorities claim that the taxable revenue that they tried to hide was acquired through exchanges involving digital currencies. Their efforts are estimated to have cost the state budget 3 million Romanian lei, or almost $650,000.
The Tax Administration is working to improve taxpayers who use cryptocurrencies' compliance. The operation was carried out in response to a tax fraud investigation launched this summer by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration's (ANAF) tax fraud unit into profits from cryptocurrency trading made between 2016 and 2021 through a variety of platforms, including Binance, Kucoin, Maiar, Bitmart, and the now-defunct FTX.
Tax investigators uncovered about €131 million in income earned at the time by 63 Romanian citizens. Additionally, they found that the people had failed to report about €48 million in digital assets on their tax returns.
