Crypto News – Swedish Tax Agency Uncovers $90 Million Tax Evasion Scheme in Crypto Mining Industry

Crypto News – Swedish Tax Agency Uncovers $90 Million Tax Evasion Scheme in Crypto Mining Industry

Crypto News – The Swedish Tax Agency‘s investigations into crypto firms have uncovered a significant tax evasion scheme spanning from 2020 to 2023. It was revealed that numerous crypto-mining entities had deliberately provided misleading information or incomplete disclosures to exploit tax benefits.

In their scrutiny of 21 crypto-mining companies during the mentioned period, the agency found that 18 of them had engaged in deceptive practices to avoid various tax obligations. These ranged from evading value-added tax (VAT) on taxable operations by misrepresenting their business activities to circumventing import duties on mining equipment and income tax on generated revenue.

The Swedish Tax Agency‘s statement emphasized the detrimental impact of such practices, noting that they resulted in substantial losses of tax revenue for the country, primarily through erroneous VAT payments, undeclared crypto assets, and unpaid taxes.

Consequently, these crypto firms have been ordered to settle outstanding taxes totaling over 990 million Swedish krona ($90 million). This sum comprises unpaid VAT amounting to 932 million krona ($85.4 million) and additional tax penalties totaling around 57.9 million krona ($5.3 million).

Although some of the mining firms contested the tax demands, the administrative court upheld the appeals of only two companies while rejecting the rest. Adjustments were made to the owed amounts in accordance with the court’s rulings.

In a separate development, in November 2023, Hive Digital Technologies, a crypto mining company, expanded its operations by acquiring a commercial property and a data center in Boden, Sweden. Johanna Thornblad, Hive’s country president for Sweden, highlighted the significance of the new data center in facilitating the company’s regional growth and reiterated their commitment to environmental sustainability and energy efficiency through the utilization of “green” energy sources.

The acquired property will serve as a facility for housing Hive’s latest generation of ASIC servers, contributing to increased Bitcoin production. Hive Digital Technologies currently operates data centers in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland, prioritizing the use of renewable energy sources for cryptocurrency mining operations.