India's $104M Crypto Tax Dragnet: 44,000 Notices Issued

Budget 2026 widened the data pipeline. Exchanges, custodians and wallet providers must now submit user-level transaction data directly to the tax department. That lets officials compare what an investor filed against what each platform recorded. A mismatch in the Schedule VDA, Form 26AS, TDS records and exchange reports can produce a notice.

The compliance net will expand further from 2027, when India adopts the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. The framework enables automatic cross-border sharing of crypto account data, making offshore holdings easier for authorities to trace.

Investors who used multiple exchanges or offshore accounts now face a heavier recordkeeping burden. Missing a staking reward or an airdrop can create a mismatch. So can a wallet transfer that was not reported.

India's tax department plans to align fully with the CARF regime by 2027, the Economic Times reported. The first wave of notices suggests officials have already begun building the infrastructure to make that system work.