The Australian Tax Office is set to Target Cryptos For “Money Laundering Schemes” in Australia

During an online conference this week, the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement —known as J5— is shifting its focus on the “illicit” use of cryptocurrencies on crimes such as “money laundering schemes”.

The J5 is a well-known supergroup of international tax institutions from the Netherlands, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, with the Australian Tax Office —ATO—.

This week, the J5 made cryptocurrencies and the fintech space its primary topic. One of the key questions will be how are cryptos and digital assets being used by “criminals” and “tax evaders.”

The IRS Will Send a Secondment to the ATO

Jim Lee, Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation —IRS— chief, announced the U.S.-based federal agency will send next week a senior member from his office to the ATO, as a strategy to target cryptocurrencies, fight “tax criminals” and “money laundering schemes” in Australia.

Many people out there feel that just because they’re dealing with cyber in the blockchain crypto area, they’re anonymous. But it’s a mistake to assume cryptocurrencies are untraceable by authorities.

Stated IRS-CI chief Jim Lee during the conference

But, ironically enough, several banks in Australia were recently the main protagonist on money laundering schemes. Two weeks ago, 16 banks —seven of them Australian and the rest Southeast-Asian— were behind major schemes together with South American drug cartels, for laundering more than $500M in international transactions.

The Australian Border Force decided to withhold the names of those banks due to “Security”, and “legal procedures”. At the time of writing, there has not been any more news about the topic.

Simon York, director of U.K.-based HM Revenue and Custom stated that Australia and other countries could expect a greater presence from the ATO, and a deeper study for Cryptocurrencies and their use.