The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is hiring employees from the cryptocurrency industry to improve its expertise in handling digital assets.
According to a Feb. 28 Bloomberg report, the IRS has hired two former crypto executives. One of them, Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee, previously worked at Binance US, the American arm of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. His past work experience includes serving as head of tax at crypto company ConsenSys.
Another IRS recruit, Seth Wilkes, most recently served as vice president of government affairs and success at TaxBit. Both experts will help lead the agency's crypto compliance and enforcement efforts. However, the exact positions of Mukherjee and Wilkes are yet to be disclosed by the agency.
“Bringing expertise from the private sector and working with the IRS team will help us successfully build on the agency's efforts around digital assets and help us do it in a way that works for everyone. is important.”
IRS Commissioner Danny Warfel
The process for regulating virtual currency activities in the United States is still under development, including in the tax area. Many government agencies, including the IRS, are proposing more thorough regulation of the digital asset space. One of the IRS's latest efforts in this area is new rules for the taxation of virtual currencies that require brokers and exchanges to report sales.
The document was jointly submitted with the U.S. Department of the Treasury last year. Officials had hoped the new rules would eliminate tax disparities and allow everyone to play by the same rules. Under the proposed regulations, crypto brokers would be treated similarly to more traditional brokers such as stockbrokers.
However, this document was criticized by representatives of various sectors. For this reason, Rep. Patrick McHenry called on government agencies to establish clearer regulatory requirements. In his opinion, any regulatory requirements must be “narrow, customized, and clear.”
