The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has hired two former executives from the crypto industry to strengthen its expertise and competence in digital assets as the tax season approaches, according to the announcement made on February 27.
Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee, the former global head of tax at ConsenSys and former executive at Binance’s U.S. unit, will serve as an adviser to the IRS. Seth Wilks, who previously worked at crypto tax software firm TaxBit, will also take on a similar role.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said that the agency is bringing in experts from the private sector to “lead IRS efforts building service, reporting, compliance and enforcement programs focused on digital assets.”
Werfel said:
“It’s important we get this right for taxpayers and the nation. Pulling in expertise from the private sector to work with the IRS team is critical to successfully building the agency’s efforts involving digital assets and helping us do it in a way that works well for everyone.”
The IRS has stated that the digital asset space is a key area of focus, and the agency is currently developing regulations that will require crypto brokers, including exchanges, to report comprehensive details about their clients’ transactions to the U.S. government.
The agency’s financial crimes unit is also investigating a growing number of cases linked to cryptocurrency tax evasion.
The IRS recently introduced a controversial tax obligation requiring anyone who receives at least $10,000 in cryptocurrencies to report the transaction information to the IRS.
