Crypto Shake

2022-04-02 20:10:00 ​​Law Project Presented in Argentinian Senate Proposes to Tax Undeclared Cryptocurrency Held Outside the Country

A new law project presented in the Argentinian Senate is seeking to start a fund to pay for part of the debt the country has with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The project, which is being pushed by members of the ruling party, would establish that Argentinian citizens have to pay taxes for certain assets held outside the country, including cryptocurrencies.

A new law project presented in the Argentinian senate proposes a way of paying the debt of more than $44 billion that the country has with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The law, called “National Fund For The Cancellation Of The Debt With The IMF,” implements a system that, if approved, will tax several key elements that Argentinians possess in foreign lands.

According to the project, all kinds of properties outside of the country would be taxed, including any amount of fiat currencies, properties, stocks, credits, and cryptocurrencies, constituting an emergency input coming from these undeclared goods outside of the country. The payment of these taxes will have to be in foreign currency (U.S. dollars), deposited directly to the accounts of the Argentinian tax authority (AFIP).

Argentinian citizens will have to pay a certain percentage of the value of these funds depending on the way and time periods in which they declare their properties and cryptocurrency to the tax authority. Article number nine in the law proposal declares:

The contribution to be paid by the taxpayers indicated in Article 6 will be the one that results from applying, on all the assets object of this law, the rate of twenty percent (20%).

This rate applies to all taxpayers declaring these assets voluntarily in the six months after the approval of the law. After this period ends, the rate applied by the law is increased to 35% of the value of the goods, stocks, and cryptocurrency held outside the country. In other circumstances, this rate can climb as high as 50%.

The penalties proposed for not complying with the duties declared in the law include prison time and fines. To have sufficient data for its application, the figure of a collaborator, which points to possible offenders with evidence, is also defined in the project. Collaborators receive a part of the funds collected by the tax authority, which can be as high as 30% depending on the importance of the case examined. Open / Comment

2022-04-01 14:50:00 ​​Clearview AI has released an updated facial recognition system

The developer of the Clearview AI facial recognition system has released the Clearview 2.0 update, which contains improved biometric identification tools. This is stated in the company's press release.

According to the director of Clearview AI, Hoan Thon-Thet, innovations include image enhancement tools that allow researchers to use photos with partially covered faces, poor lighting and low resolution.

"Clearview AI 2.0 adds several security and functionality improvements to the already proven technology ... to help investigators use it in a more convenient way that facilitates rapid matching of individuals in investigations," Ton-Tet said.

According to him, the service's database contains more than 20 billion images of people from around the world.

Clearview 2.0 has also improved workflow tracking and reporting. This will limit privacy violations and police abuses, according to the company.

The new version has improved the training of new users and introduced additional verification steps.

The company has already started rolling out the update to existing customers, which include more than 3,100 agencies in the US, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and hundreds of local agencies.

Recall that Clearview AI provided the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with access to the database after the invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of the country.

In November 2021, the software of the infamous startup entered the top ten most accurate facial recognition systems.

In October, the Clearview AI database contained 10 billion individuals. Open / Comment

2022-03-31 14:25:00 ​​Argentinian Tax Agency Amps Up Scrutiny for Crypto Traders and Holders With New Requirements

The Argentinian Tax Agency (AFIP) is watching the movements of cryptocurrency traders and holders, to tighten its control over their transactions. The institution is now sending emails to Argentinian citizens asking for a series of data regarding supposed cryptocurrency operations made in their names. The agency requires the public keys of the citizen and a list of transactions made during a certain time period.

The AFIP, the Argentinian tax watchdog, has decided to take the battle against cryptocurrency tax evasion directly to users of these currencies. While the agency had required information from exchanges before, the responsibility is now directed to certain users that have received a requirement to answer a series of questions regarding their history with digital assets.

The requirement compels users to deliver data like the public keys of the wallets they are currently managing, and a list of digital asset movements that must include dates, the cryptocurrencies involved, the amounts moved, and the kind of operation. Furthermore, the citizens must justify the origin of the funds used to perform these transactions and the complete crypto savings held.

The required info is to include transactions that go back to 2018, so the numbers could be very high, according to Germán Nlhoul from Criptocontador.

The opinion of experts in the country is divided regarding this new move of the AFIP. Some think that the institution has the right to require this information from crypto users. This is the case with Juan Manuel Scarso, a fintech tax expert who explained:

The AFIP has broad powers to verify, at any time, including with respect to current fiscal periods, the compliance that the obligors or those responsible give to the laws, regulations, resolutions and administrative instructions, supervising the situation of any alleged responsible.

However, others differ in their views and state that the Argentinian Tax Agency might be overreaching by requiring some of this data from the citizens, without stating the purpose of these requirements clearly. This is the case with Mariano Neira, who stated:

Among the requirements on crypto assets that are circulating, an excessive request for information and also a clear affectation of patrimonial intimacy can be observed.

This information is already required by the organization from the exchanges, which must comply with this requirement by law. However, some have speculated that this pivot is due to the exchanges being non-compliant with the regulation, forcing the agency to look for the info from other sources. Open / Comment