Bengaluru, 15 July 2026: Lakhs of Indian crypto investors who incorrectly reported or omitted Virtual Digital Asset (VDA) income in previous tax returns still have an opportunity to fix those filings through the Income Tax Department’s Updated Return (ITR-U) mechanism.
Crypto trading and investments platform Mudrex and global crypto tax platform KoinX have jointly launched Course Correct, a campaign to help Indian crypto investors file their taxes accurately before the July 31 deadline, and to raise awareness that returns filed incorrectly in prior years can still be fixed even if one has received tax notices.
Under Section 139(8A) of the Income Tax Act, taxpayers can voluntarily correct returns for up to four previous financial years, helping them avoid higher costs and prolonged scrutiny later. Despite this provision, awareness remains low.
Of the 6.45 lakh individuals who were subjected to TDS on crypto transactions in FY 2022-23, fewer than one in four, or only 1.39 lakh, disclosed such income in their tax returns, according to Income Tax Department data.
In most cases, there was no intent to evade. People assumed the 1% TDS deducted by their exchange settled their tax obligation. Some believed crypto-to-crypto trades were not taxable because no rupees changed hands. Others did not know that small gains still need to be reported, or that each trade must be declared individually under Schedule VDA rather than aggregated.
The compliance gap does not stay invisible. Indian exchanges deduct TDS on every trade and report it against the investor’s PAN, which means the Income Tax Department can identify a mismatch without any additional investigation.
From next year, India is set to begin receiving crypto transaction data from foreign jurisdictions under the OECD’s Crypto Asset Reporting Framework, bringing offshore platforms into the picture.
The window covers up to four earlier financial years. This means for FY 2026–27, returns going back to FY 2021–22 are still eligible. The cost of filing ITR-U is a fixed additional amount on top of the tax and interest due, and that cost rises the longer an investor waits.
More importantly, voluntary self-correction through ITR-U is treated significantly differently from a mismatch the IT department discovers on its own. A notice carries not just a larger financial cost but the prospect of extended proceedings and, in cases of misreporting, penalties of up to 200% of the tax owed.
“Most investors who get a notice are not evaders. They are people who found out too late that crypto tax does not work the way they assumed,” said Edul Patel, Founder and CEO, Mudrex. “We would rather have our users hear this from us now, with a fix in hand, than from the tax department later. That is what Course Correct is.”
Through the campaign, Mudrex users can connect their trade history to KoinX in just one click with direct connect to get an accurate tax report generated across all their exchanges and wallets, and have KoinX’s tax experts file the return for them, including ITR-U filings for prior years where needed. The process that typically involves days of spreadsheets and a CA with specialist crypto knowledge gets done in one place.
“We have helped thousands of investors in exactly this situation, and one thing holds every time. The earlier someone acts, the simpler and cheaper it is,” said Punit Agarwal, Founder and CEO, KoinX. “An updated return filed on your own is a routine correction. The same mismatch the department finds becomes a notice, a penalty, and months of stress. We want to move people from the second bucket to the first.”
Until this year, investors who received tax notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act were effectively locked out of the ITR-U route. With changes in the Finance Bill, 2026, taxpayers can file updated returns even after reassessment proceedings have been initiated by tax authorities.
The takeaway for crypto investors is that if you have not yet received a tax notice, filing ITR-U now is the cheapest and cleanest route to correcting a prior-year VDA filing. And if a notice has already arrived, the door is not closed.
About Mudrex
Mudrex is a leading Indian crypto trading and investment platform trusted by over 3 million users across India and handling over $5 billion in annual trading volume. Founded in 2018, Mudrex is backed by Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, Village Global, and Arkham Ventures. It is registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND) and is an ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type II certified company.
About KoinX
KoinX is a global crypto tax and accounting platform with over 1.5 million users across India, the US, the UK, Australia, and Europe. It integrates with 800+ exchanges and wallets to generate reconciled tax reports and offers expert-assisted return filing. KoinX also builds KoinX Books for Web3 business accounting and KoinX Recon for exchanges and custodians. KoinX is ISO 27001:2022-, SOC 2 Type II-, and GDPR-compliant.
