Alex Coin 
La Directorate of National Taxes and Customs of Colombia (DIAN) noted that the individuals in question incurred in irregularities when filing their taxes in 2019, as they made no mention of cryptocurrency cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use cryptographic technologies to secure their operation. transactions conducted through LocalBitcoins, which sets an important precedent for what could come in the future for platform a place to buy, sell and store cryptocurrency users. P2P.
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La Directorate of National Taxes and Customs of Colombia better known by its acronym as the DIAN, sent notices to two residents of the country to notify them of irregularities in their tax returns. Income Taxes (ISLR) The company said that these individuals were omitting information in relation to cryptocurrency trading operations allegedly conducted through LocalBitcoins, one of the main international reference points for the purchase and sale of Bitcoin the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency in the world. It is a decentralized digital currency that enables users to make trustless peer-to-peer transactions. vía P2P the decentralized interactions between parties in a distributed network, partitioning tasks or workloads between peers. (Peer-to-Peer) .
Non-compliance in declaring operations with cryptocurrencies
This is revealed by a pair trade between one cryptocurrency and another, for example, the trading pair BTC/ETH. of notifications dated 23 December last, to which the team of DiarioBitcoin had access, in which the persons indicated had to assume the payment of fines for commercial operations with cryptocurrencies carried out in 2019, which apparently were not duly reported in the declaration of the Income Tax for the corresponding year.
The respective notifications correspond to the cases of two residents in the city of Bucaramanga and the notifications in question were titled as follows “Possible inaccuracies in the income and supplementary tax return, taxable year 2019 for transactions carried out with cryptocurrencies”.
Using a similar format, both documents inform them of certain inconsistencies in the report for that year, detailing the amount of commercial operations carried out and an approximate calculation of the associated capital capital is most commonly defined as the large sum of money you would use to invest. movements in its equivalent in Colombian pesos.
Inconsistencies, Corrections and Fines
Both documents read as follows:
“The DIAN as an essential public service provider called Fiscal Service, whose objective is to contribute to the fiscal security the term securities refers to a fungible and tradable financial instrument that carries a type of monetary value. of the Colombian State and the protection of the national economic public order, is pleased to inform you that you have been selected for a control action, in accordance with the information sent by the Tax Audit an audit is a process where developers inspect the underlying code and/or algorithm that compose systems and applications. Subdirectorate and the Finnish Tax Authority, in which possible inaccuracies were determined in the gross income made in your income and complementary tax return for the taxable year 2019…”.
The record in question contains the following data in one of the notifications:
The reports in question invite those indicated to verify the inconsistencies and make the applicable corrections as the case may be in the corresponding declarations, all within the framework of the provisions of Article 644 of the E. T., contemplating in turn the payment of the respective fines and sending all the information associated with the negotiations with Bitcoin.
¿LocalBitcoins involved?
As indicated above, the reports issued by the DIAN refer to a collaboration with the Finnish Tax Authority The country in which it has its main headquarters of operations LocalBitcoins, the platform P2P with more trajectory for the purchase / sale of Bitcoin at the international level.
In contrast to conventional exchanges, an exchange businesses that allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies for fiat money or other cryptocurrencies. service P2P como LocalBitcoins connects buyers and sellers to make the purchase / sale of a cryptocurrency, which remains in custody custody is a financial institution's legal capacity to keep and preserve financial assets for its clients to avoid asset theft or loss. within the platform while the parties make the corresponding payment under the modality that has been agreed (cash, bank transfer, mobile payment app, other digital digital technologies are these electronic tools that have the ability to generate, store or even process data. currencies, etc). This operation frees the responsible company from all contact with fiat fiat currency is “legal tender” backed by a central government, such as the Federal Reserve, and with its own banking system, such as fractional reserve banking. It can take the form of physical cash, or it can be represented electronically, such as with bank credit. money, so it would not need to apply for licenses associated with the handling of capital, thus being able to offer its services without so much bureaucratic red tape.
Originally these platforms usually operate only with an email, a password and an associated phone number, implementing some other requirement depending on the provisions outlined by the company responsible. However, specifically in the case of LocalBitcoins, the platform introduced measures KYC ‘Know Your Client’. A procedure when a trading platform or exchange would require you to confirm your identity in order for you to use them. (Know Your Customer) and AML anti-money-laundering laws, regulations, and procedures that aim to end the unlawful income practices. (anti-money laundering policies) with which it began to request personal information from users, precisely to conform to applicable international guidelines and thus close refers to the closing price; similar to the same term used in stock trading. the way to bad practices associated with the use of cryptocurrencies.
Therefore, under compliance with these and other regulations, LocalBitcoins is in accordance with the opinions of the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority, entity under which it is registered and is listed as the main overseer of its activities.
Collaborate with the authorities
In consideration of the foregoing, in accordance with the terms of use and service managed by LocalBitcoins, as set out in your privacy policy in the numerals 2.7 / 2.8 / 2.9 referred to the handling of personal data, the platform is in full power to process data associated with commercial information, transactions with Bitcoin and all user communications – including all metadata associated with the aforementioned aspects – should any authority request this information, and/or if this is necessary for the legitimate interests of the company.
Paragraph 2.8 reads:
“The lawful bases for this processing are: the performance of a contract in traditional finance, a contract is a binding agreement between two parties. In cryptocurrencies, smart contracts execute functions on the blockchain. between you and us and compliance with a legal obligation to which LocalBitcoins is subject, namely to comply with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws and the legitimate interests of us and/or third parties, namely to prevent, detect and investigate fraud, criminal activity or other misuse of the services.”
Implications of what happened
While the process in question is legitimate and proceeds in accordance with the legal frameworks in force for both the DIAN as for the Finnish Tax Authority, questions then arise about the repercussions that this type of event could have for those who trade through the Internet. LocalBitcoins or other platforms P2P from Colombia, a country that still does not have precise legal frameworks for dealing with cryptocurrencies from a utilitarian and/or commercial perspective.
For some perspectives, DiarioBitcoin interviewed Camilo Suárez, founding CEO of the firm. Suarez Venegas Attorneys at Law and president of AsoBlockchain , who shared some clarifications regarding the communiqués sent by the DIAN to traders Bitcoin and the implications of these facts for the future.
Still no clear laws
First, Suarez indicated that everything seems to point to the fact that the information contemplated by the DIAN may have been facilitated by LocalBitcoins, This is in response to a request to the competent Finnish authorities by the Colombian tax authority. However, from a legal perspective there are a couple of things to take care of:
- The first is that the affected persons are being singled out for irregularities and inconsistencies pointed out in 2019, this at a time when Colombia still has no known legal frameworks that apply to this type of operations. In this regard, he stressed that the law cannot be retroactive, so people cannot be punished for something that happened before an associated law was established.
- On the other hand, given that the provisions for trading and taxation of cryptocurrencies are not entirely clear, it is not very clear what the endorsement was for requesting this information from the trading platform in question.
Posible “ Domino Effect “
Another aspect that Suárez warns about is that this could set an important precedent and we could start to see this kind of circulars more frequently among crypto-users that make use of platforms such as LocalBitcoins.
However, the most important wake-up call points to the fact that other platforms could possibly P2P Suárez does not rule out that in the not too distant future Binance, Paxful or any other service should provide commercial information about users operating from Colombia.
The lawyer also pointed out that all these announcements come at a time when major exchanges are working hand in hand with local banks to bring their operations to the country. Let’s keep in mind that a pilot program is currently being carried out, driven by the Financial Superintendence through its Sandbox regulatorio.
The rules of the game need to be clarified
And finally, Suárez pointed out that the position from AsoBlockchain aims to establish working spaces with the DIAN and with the other corresponding regulatory entities, in order to advance in the design of agreements and strategies that guarantee adequate compliance with the rules but also create fair conditions for crypto-enthusiasts and entrepreneurs who trade these assets.
Suarez again stressed the importance of complying with the tax obligations associated with this type of activities, but for this, it is necessary to achieve greater clarity on the subject, because there are still no precise rules applicable to such cases, which leaves room for free interpretation of both members of the crypto ecosystem and the legal and governmental entities.
- Binance and Davivienda to launch pilot program for digital currency currency is a medium of exchange that defines value. trading in Colombia
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Article by Angel Di Matteo / DiarioBitcoin
Main image by Unsplash
