India's crypto tax collections soar to Rs 437 cr, a 62% jump: Govt data

The Indian government has collected Rs 437.43 crores in income tax on cryptocurrencies and other virtual digital assets (VDAs) in the fiscal year 2023-2024, stated Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, in a written statement to the Lok Sabha on July 21.

In FY22-23, the income tax collected on cryptocurrency was approximately Rs 269.09 crores, up nearly 62.5 percent year on year as of FY24. However, the government does not have the most recent figures for FY24-25 because the tax filing deadline is still in effect.

This is the first time the government has revealed the specifics of cryptocurrency taxes collected since they were imposed in 2022. The government had imposed a 30% tax on gains from VDAs and a 1% TDS (tax deducted at source) on all transactions worth Rs 10,000 or more.

In answer to a query, Chaudhary stated, “The Government is utilizing data analytics tools to trace and detect tax evasion from VDA related transactions. The analysis includes the use of Non-Filer Monitoring System (NMS), Project Insight and internal databases of the Income Tax Department, to correlate available information on VDA transactions with the transactions disclosed in the return of income by the taxpayer.”

Chaudhary also stated that the Central Board of Direct Taxes has launched NUDGE (Non-Intrusive Use of Data to Guide and Enable) campaign to discover such anomalies for further action.

He said, “Under NUDGE campaign suitable communications, to review and update their income tax returns, were issued to all taxpayers who did not report VDA related transactions in their income tax returns, despite tax being deducted at source for such transactions by VASPs, where the quantum of such discrepancy was more than Rs 1 lakh.”

Moneycontrol exclusively reported in April 2025 that several crypto investors were starting to get income tax notices from the IT Department for failing to pay taxes on peer-to-peer (P2P) trading conducted through foreign exchange.

The government is also strengthening its staff through capacity-building measures that will provide officers with training programs, specialised seminars, Chintan Shivirs, and hands-on workshops to enable efficient compliance monitoring and investigation of VDA-related transactions.

Chaudhary said, “At local level, field offices conduct training sessions and webinars on digital forensics, Blockchain analysis, legal frameworks, and handling of digital evidence. The officers and officials are also imparted short term training on digital forensics, in partnership with National Forensic Science University (NFSU), Goa, which empower them to identify and trace VDA related transactions from data captured during intrusive actions.”