BY DAYO ADESULU
In South Africa, three cryptocurrency exchanges, comprises Altcointrader, Luno, and Valr have confirmed that they got a request for client data from the South African revenue collector.
In a statement, South African Revenue Service explained that it wants this information “as part of a tax risk assessment exercise on residents involved in “the mining, speculation and/or investment in crypto-assets.” For its part, the revenue collector says the collected data “will inform the need for future action concerning crypto-assets.”
It was gathered that the request which signifies cryptocurrency acceptability in South Africa was a prayer answered as the exchanges promised to comply immediately with the tax collector directive.
The three South African cryptocurrency exchanges said “they (will) all provide the ability for customers to download their transaction history to prepare any tax declarations that are required.”
In his reaction, Mr Marius Reitz, the general manager for Africa at Luno said his company will be complying with the request for client information as this is a legal requirement.
According to him, the demand by the revenue collector which targets a selection of Luno customers complies with section 46 of the (South African) Tax Administration Act.”
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Moreover, Altcointrader which had “taken legal counsel to ensure that all information requested by regulators is within our legal obligation,” now promised to cooperate with the South African Revenue Service.
Similarly, Bitcoin.com reports that the co-founder and CEO of Valr Exchange, Farzam Ehsani expressed initial concern over the development.
He, however, said: ”We are also committed to being compliant with the laws and regulations that govern our business. ”We have engaged with SARS to express our concern for the privacy of our customers’ data and we have also sought legal advice on our obligation to comply with SARS’ request.”
