At the close of the 2023 fiscal year, the Criminal Investigation Unit of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) detects an increase in cases related to tax evasion in the cryptocurrency sector.

This is a trend that has been advancing in recent months and that generated a greater number of investigations this year, compared to cases linked to money laundering with cryptocurrencies, as the agency notes in its year-end report presented on December 4.

Three years ago, more than 90% of investigations into cryptocurrency cases were linked to money laundering, Lim Lee, head of criminal investigation at the IRS, told the media, adding that in the last year half of the cases involved tax evasion.

The investigations are mainly focused on unreported income due to the failure to provide information on capital gains from cryptocurrency sales, profits from bitcoin mining (BTC), or income received in digital currencies, such as wages, rental income, and gambling winnings.

Cases of tax evasion are also cited with taxpayers trying to hide their properties in cryptocurrencies so as not to reveal their holdings. A situation that has been worrying the rulers, who have now set their sights on the issue of paying taxes for the possession of cryptoassets.

There is a shift in focus by the U.S. government, through the IRS, now putting the pressure on ordinary people who hold bitcoins that it previously exerted on criminals.