5 nations challenge crypto experts and investigators to target tax crimes

The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5), a global anti-tax fraud group, hosted investigators, cryptocurrency experts and data scientists in ‘The Cyber Challenge’ event to track down individuals and organizations committing tax fraud.

The J5 members are composed of the criminal intelligence communities from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States that collaborate in the fight against international and transnational tax crime and money laundering.

The group includes the Australian Taxation Office, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs from the U.K. and IRS-CI from the U.S. Participants included experts from J5 countries, who were tasked with optimizing the usage of data acquired from a variety of open and investigative sources available to each country.

J5 members include criminal intelligence communities from Australia, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States. Source: irs.gov

Since its inception in 2018, the J5 has hosted 5 such events. In 2022, the fourth event focused on nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized exchanges (DEX). Sharing details about the latest 2023 event, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) report stated:

“This is the first Challenge where Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) from each J5 country participated. Private sector was represented by blockchain analysis companies Chainalysis, BlockTrace, and AnChain making this the most collaborative Challenge to date.”

In the process, the J5 generated significant leads for further investigation, which, in the past, helped uncover multi-million-dollar crypto Ponzi schemes such as the BitClub Network. John Ford, the deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office stated:

“This collaboration between public and private specialists not only generates operational outcomes, but shares expert training, techniques and procedures, which is integral for the participants to remain proactive and effective in a rapidly evolving operating environment.”

Ryan Ryder from Chainalysis pointed out that crypto’s inherent transparency, coupled with international public and private sector experts, “can collaborate to identify and shut down illicit activity,” a task that remains impossible in traditional finance.

The Cointelegraph Innovation Circle recently featured seven crypto experts in an article to help Web3 companies prep for tax season. First and foremost, Web3 companies must constantly monitor the tax implications of their activities and diligently work to ensure they’re meeting their obligations.

In addition, the members of the Cointelegraph Innovation Circle recommended seven best practices to ensure adherence to tax formalities. Choosing a tax-friendly country while ensuring on-time payment is a top priority, in addition to avoiding shortcuts and finding an experienced crypto tax accountant.

Other key factors include accurate documentation of all activities and seeking expert legal counsel, automating transaction tracking and using specialized software.

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