Major crypto mining hardware maker Bitmain is reportedly looking at a nearly $4 million-heavy fine for unpaid taxes in Beijing.
According to a report by the local news agency Sina Finance, Bitmain has failed to pay income taxes as required by China’s laws on the administration of tax collection.
Therefore, the Beijing Municipal Office of the State Administration of Taxation fined the company nearly ¥25 million, or $3.63 million, said the report, citing Qichacha, the country’s data registry of private and public companies.
Bitmain was penalized earlier this month, on April 4, with the data mentioning violations related to employees’ income taxes, including salaries, bonuses, allowances, labor dividends, and other elements.
This, it argued, violated Middle Kingdom’s laws related to taxation. And the report claimed this is not the first time Bitmain got in trouble with this particular authority.
The company was reportedly contacted in August last year about certain tax-related violations, but has so far not paid personal income tax amounting to some ¥16.65 million, which is about $2.42 million.
Cryptonews.com reached out to Bitmain for comment.
Bitmain has faced issues with the country’s regulators on several fronts since its inception in 2013. In a major turn of events, it was allegedly forced to halt operations in China in 2021, following the government’s crypto ban imposed in September of that year.
In June of that year, Bitmain told the local mining community that it had stopped selling new equipment after prices for top-tier rigs had plunged by about 75% since April. By postponing sales, it could help miners exiting the industry get better prices for their machines, it was reported at the time, while the company could also benefit if the reduced supply buoys prices over the longer term for new machines.
That said, at the very end of 2022, just four months ago, the company announced that it sold out its latest Antminer device “in only 27 seconds.”
Earlier last year, in July, Bitmain announced it would start selling its latest Ethereum (ETH) mining rig AntMiner E9, even as Ethereum developers geared up for the blockchain’s shift to proof-of-stake (PoS).
Operators of mining facilities have also been reporting their purchase agreements with Bitmain over the last year. Just yesterday, Bitcoin miner CleanSpark announced a purchase of 45,000 new units of the Antminer S19 XP mining machines for a total price of $144.9 million. All units are expected to be ready for delivery by the manufacturer before the end of September, and once deployed, they will increase the company’s current hashrate by 95%, the company said.
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