The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is hiring employees from the crypto industry to improve its expertise in working with digital assets.
According to a Feb. 28 Bloomberg report, the IRS has hired two former cryptocurrency executives. One of them, Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee, previously worked for the American division of the Binance crypto exchange, Binance US. His past work experience also includes the crypto firm ConsenSys, where he was head of the tax department.
Another new IRS hire, Seth Wilks, was recently vice president of government affairs and success at TaxBit. Both specialists will help lead the agency’s cryptocurrency compliance and enforcement efforts. However, the exact positions of Mukherjee and Wilks have yet to be revealed by the agency.
“Pulling in expertise from the private sector to work with the IRS team is critical to successfully building the agency’s efforts involving digital assets and helping us do it in a way that works well for everyone.”
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel
The process of regulating cryptocurrency activities in the US, including in the tax area, is still under development. Many agencies, including the IRS, are proposing more thorough regulation of the digital assets sector. One of the latest IRS initiatives in this area is the new rules on the taxation of cryptocurrencies, which oblige brokers and exchanges to report sales.
The document was presented jointly with the US Treasury Department last year. Officials expected the new rules to close the tax gap and ensure everyone plays by the same set of rules. Under the proposed regulations, crypto brokers would be treated like more traditional brokers, such as stock brokers.
However, the document was criticized by representatives of various fields. Thus, Congressman Patrick McHenry called on agencies to establish more apparent regulatory requirements. In his opinion, any regulatory requirement must be “narrow, tailored, and clear.”
