Tax Evasion is a Short term Gratifier with Long Term Consequences
Even though Crypto tax evasion is a serious crime all over the world, Japanese authorities aren’t messing around when it comes to hunting down anyone considered a crypto tax evader. A courthouse in Ishikawa has ruled one of them, a 56-year-old man will spend one year in prison, plus pay a $200,000 fine.
According to Chunichi, a judge at the Kanazawa District Court ordered a fine of over 22 million yen ($200,000) and a one-year-long sentence to Hideji Matsuda, an company worker in Ishikawa, for brekaing Income Tax Laws.
The judge ruled that the man didn’t file accurate tax declarations knowingly on his bitcoin (BTC)trading activity. According to court documents, Matsuda didn’t make known the actual amount of profits received from trading crypto from the periods of 2017-2018.
Moreover, the court announced that the office worker falsified data on his tax submissions claiming to have just earned 1.2 million yen ($11,000) in profits. In reality, he received a total of profits surpassing 74 million yen ($678,000) without paying the government their portion whatsoever.
When his lawyers on the hearings interviewed Matsuda, he said that he didn’t have clarity on how to calculate the profits of incomes earned from cryptos. However, prosecutors stated otherwise. In fact, they thought the 56-years-old man was “selfish and self-centered.”
Matsuda’s lawyers already pledged for pardon, as they stated the man submitted petitions to amend the issue and file the required documents properly with accurate information. However, the judge rejected such a proposal and proceeded with the sentence.
