India keeps surprising investors in the country with the latest idea of imposing a 28% tax on buying and selling Bitcoin. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is India’s decision-making body when it comes to all things tax-related, and it plans on considering this idea soon.
The Legal Status Of Crypto Still Unclear
Unfortunately, the legal status of cryptocurrencies is still vague in India. There’s still a lack of legislation surrounding this industry, even though investors argued that the Union Budget tax plan basically legalized crypto trading.
However, taxing crypto still doesn’t make digital assets legitimate in the country.
In its former discussion, the Union proposed a 30% tax on earnings from cryptocurrencies and other assets. There will be no deductions, and no losses in transactions will be allowed to offset the profits.
Still, with the rising costs of other commodities in India, the GST Council is looking to increase the rates of 143 items. The Council may eliminate the 5% slab by moving some mass markets to 3% and the rest to 8%.
According to some reports, the GST wants to reduce the number of slabs in the next two years. With this in mind, the Indian government may collect more taxes and cut inflation, which hit 17 months high.