International Coalition J5 Unites Against Crypto Tax Criminals

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States has formed the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5), a coalition between five countries aimed at investigating cryptocurrency crimes, such as tax evasion or fraud and money laundering.

The coalition was formed as a response to a request to reduce tax crime, made by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The J5 consists of the IRS, as well as financial institutions from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and UK. According to Business Insider, these agencies will conduct investigations together and share obtained information, to “reduce the growing threat posed to tax administrations by cryptocurrencies and cyber crime,” the IRS said.

Forbes reports that the chief of the IRS criminal investigation division, Don Fort, said why they decided to go international: “We cannot continue to operate in the same ways we have in the past, siloing our information from the rest of the world while organized criminals and tax cheats manipulate the system and exploit vulnerabilities for their personal gain. The J5 aims to break down those walls, build upon individual best practices, and become an operational group that is forward-thinking and can pressurize the global criminal community in ways we could not achieve on our own.”

The community does not seem perturbed: most Twitter users agree that this initiative is aimed at big crimes such as fraud and terrorist financing. They add that as long as their taxes on crypto gains are reported, the average Joe has nothing to worry about. Reddit user u/redalurk points out that, “Money laundering and cybercrime are not the same thing as tax fraud.”