Brazil’s National Treasury has ruled that the country’s citizens must declare all domestic cryptocurrency transactions as of August 1 this year.
Per Brazilian media outlet Globo, the Treasury says that it made its decision in an attempt to fight crimes “such as money laundering, tax evasion, weapons trafficking and the funding of terrorism.”
The Treasury claims, “As cryptocurrencies transactions can be made anonymously and outside the traditional financial system, gangsters have been known to take advantage.”
The new ruling means that all Brazilian companies dealing with domestic transactions – no matter how small – must make full disclosures to the authorities. In the case of international crypto dealings, Brazilian citizens themselves will have to make declarations on transactions worth USD 7,600 or more.
All declarations must be made in the space of a month, and the Treasury will hand out fines ranging between USD 25 and USD 379 to perpetrators. Those providing incorrect data may be fined up to 3% of the total value of their transactions.
Brazil’s regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission last year introduced legislation that blocks investment fund operators from dealing in cryptocurrencies.
According to Brazilian cryptocurrency media outlet Livecoins, the country’s leading tax authority, the Department of Federal Revenue (RFB), is looking to regulate the Brazil’s exchanges. However, as part of the process, the RFB has issued a document that Livecoins alleges is riddled with basic errors, including spelling mistakes and “data”-based claims that are “impossible to verify.”