Dear Finance
Minister,
I am writing
this open letter to you to make a Voluntary Disclosure and submit a few
suggestions for your kind consideration.
After your
budget proposal to levy 30 per cent tax on gains from crypto assets (c.a.,
hereafter), I naively assumed that investment in c.a. was legitimate, and
bought a bit of a bitcoin, the details of which are submitted below.
On Feb 11,
2022 you said in the Rajya Sabha, ‘I am not going to legalise it (c.a) or ban
it at this stage. Banning or not banning will come subsequently…..(whether it
is) legitimate or illegitimate, it is a different question, but I will tax
because it is a sovereign right to tax.’
On Feb 10,
2022 RBI Governor said that cryptocurrencies were a big threat to the country’s
financial and macroeconomic stability and that they would undermine RBI’s
ability to deal with issues related to financial stability.
Rather
unnerved by the statement of RBI Governor, and your own statements, I am
making, as a measure of abundant caution, a Voluntary Disclosure (VD) as
follows:
On Feb 05,
2022 (Basant Panchami, the sacred day for worshipping Goddess Saraswati!),
having a sudden craving to own a c.a., I downloaded an App (coinSwitch Kuber),
registered myself, completed the KYC by uploading my PAN and Aadhar cards, and
a selfie-shot, transferred INR 100 from my bank account to the digital wallet,
and bought a bit of a bitcoin. I hereby declare that since that day I own and possess
a solitary c.a., 0.00003076 BTC to be specific, and that I’ve made no further
transactions thereafter.
As per my
portfolio, the value of my c.a. is INR 102.66 as on Feb 12, 2022 at 15:54:49
hrs. As you are aware, the value of c.a. oscillates wildly and unpredictably,
both northwards and southwards, which I’m tracking as a prudent investor.
I’ve
informed my CA about my acquisition of the c.a., and have requested him to
advise me about the additional Advance IT payable by me by Mar 15, 2022 on the
said c.a.
My
submissions and suggestions are as follows:
1. Should you decide to declare
cryptocurrencies as counterfeit, and make all crypto transactions illegitimate,
illegal, criminal, seditious, subversive and anti-national; please do not make
it applicable with retrospective effect, as had been done by your Ministry in
some cases in the past.
2. Since I’ve made a VD, I may not be accused
of being an urban Naxal, and charged with plotting to jeopardise the financial
and macroeconomic stability of the country. I assure you that you and the RBI
Governor have my full support in your tireless effort to further strengthen the
financial and macroeconomic stability of the country. Should there be a need, I
am ready to sign a sworn affidavit to this effect.
3. I am a senior citizen, and hence, I
may kindly be exempted from personal appearance before the ITO, Bhopal Circle
I, to provide further details about my c.a. I assure of full cooperation with
the authorities for further investigations, if any.
4. In view of the big threat to
the national economy from cryptocurrencies, I suggest that RBI should maintain a
National Register of Crypto Assets (NRCA) with details of crypto assets held by
all Indian citizens in the country or abroad.
5. Since it is their bounden duty to
support and strengthen the national economy, all Public Servants (Ministers,
MPs, MLAs, Judges, government and bank employees) must submit a written
declaration that they or their family members neither possess any crypto asset
nor would make any crypto transaction unless it be declared a permissible
activity by the Ministry of Finance on a subsequent date. They should be further
mandated to make a VD of all c.a. transactions during FY 2021-22 or earlier,
and the c.a.s held by them and their family members as on Apr 01, 2022, to be
posted for public perusal and scrutiny by the RBI on its website. Annual
Property Return Form should be amended to include a clause on c.a.
6. Lastly, I may please be directed
whether I should continue to hold my c.a. till your further decision about its
legality, or should forthwith liquidate my holding after paying tax due on it.
I request that the Under Secretary/Section Officer of the Ministry of Finance
may please advise me on this matter at their earliest convenience.
Thanking
you, Minister, for your tireless effort to strengthen the financial and
macroeconomic stability of our country, and assuring you of my unequivocal
support to you and the RBI Governor.
Yours
Sincerely,
Prasanna
Dash
***
Note:
- Author's profile may be seen at http://amazon.com/author/pkdash
- Books by this author are available on Amazon.in, Kindle eBook, Flipkart, and Notion Press, Chennai.
