Colombia wants to charge more taxes on bitcoin.

The Colombian National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN) has started "actions aimed at auditing taxpayers" who operate with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC). The measure targets those individuals who have not declared their income from this activity in the Income and Complementary Tax.

The Colombian government's objective is to fight against tax evasion, money laundering, and financing of terrorism. In the press release through which it expressed its position, the DIAN detailed that operations with crypto assets, which are "a reality worldwide due to the rise of cryptocurrencies," will be closely monitored by the agency.

To this end, it will be assisted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organization dedicated to promoting policies for the welfare of people, according to its website. In addition, through an agreement between the parties, Colombia can exchange fiscal and tax information with Finland.

These new measures of the DIAN related to bitcoin come to complement others already taken in the past. The Colombian tax office states that it has issued "official notices related to the fiscal management and the correct declaration of crypto assets".

Colombia is one of the most exciting countries in bitcoin

The Colombian government's interest in regulating cryptocurrencies has to do with the high adoption of bitcoin and its peers in the country. Colombia is the third country in the world with the highest growth in adopting the crypto asset.

According to a survey conducted by an Australian consulting firm, 14.5% of internet users in Colombia said they owned a cryptocurrency in December 2021. In the previous study, in October of the same year, the figure was 7.7%. Norway and Russia led the ranking, while other Latin American countries that appeared were Mexico (15.2% of users), Argentina (15.2%), and Venezuela (14.6%).