How Do I Report Crypto On Taxes

What Happens If I Dont Report Crypto On Taxes

If you dont report crypto on taxes, youll likely end up with fines, interest, or even be charged with a criminal offense. Recently, many traders in the US, using exchanges like Coinbase, received letters from the IRS with huge amounts of taxes due to not reporting them for years.

If you received any of these letters, please search for professional help as these values can be miscalculated, and your tax bill may be lower.

Calculate Your Capital Gains And Losses

To calculate your crypto gains and losses, take the Fair Market Value and subject the Cost Basis .

For instance, lets say you bought 1 Ethereum for $2,000 your cost basis is $2,000. If you sell it when its worth $2,500, your Fair Market Value would be $2,500.

Your realized capital gain would be calculated by $2,500 $2,000 = $500 gain.

Accounting methods

If you purchase crypto several times throughout the year at different prices, you also need to pick an accounting method to help you decide which coin youre selling first. A few common costing methods include:

• FIFO. First-in-first-out means you sell your crypto in the same order you acquired it.
• LIFO. Last-in-first-out is the opposite of FIFO, so you sell the last coin you acquired and work backward.
• HIFO. Highest-in-first-out means you sell the coins with the highest purchase price first.

Say you have the following transactions:

• On January 1, 2021, you buy 1 LTC for $130.
• On February 1, 2021, you buy 1 LTC for $140.
• On March 1, 2021, you buy 1 LTC for $170.
• On April 1, 2021, you sell 1 LTC for $200.

That means in April, you triggered a taxable event. To calculate your capital gain or loss, you would subtract your cost basis of 1 Litecoin from your Fair Market Value or the selling price.

Using the FIFO costing method, you would use $130 as your cost basis how much you paid for your first Litecoin. So $200 $130 = $70 in capital gains.

Short-term or long-term gains and losses

Crypto Investors Filing Their Taxes Must Know How To Track Cost Basis Maintain Good Records Of All Original Purchases And Transactions And Report Everything In Us Dollar Terms

For most taxpayers, assembling tax returns and filing is a painful process. For those who had crypto activity in 2021, the process can be even more troublesome.

Transfers between wallets are common for investors looking to interact with different products offered by crypto exchanges and decentralized protocols. This level of activity makes recording every taxable transaction difficult.

Miles Brooks is a Certified Public Account and is the Director of Tax Strategy at CoinLedger.

Crypto investors filing their taxes must know how to track cost basis, maintain good records of all original purchases and transactions, and report everything in U.S. dollar terms. This is all in addition to making decisions oftentimes without IRS guidance as to the taxability of certain gray-area transactions, due to the ever-evolving nature of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

CryptoTrader.Tax , commissioned a survey and published a report that found that almost 25% of crypto investors who didnt report crypto on their tax return said they didnt know crypto was taxable. Another 20% said they didnt know how to report their crypto activity.

Cryptocurrency tax reporting software can help ensure investors avoid IRS scrutiny, which has grown sharper in recent years as more people invest in digital assets. As you file this years crypto taxes, here are also three important, common-sense tips to help you avoid the IRS’ notice.

Read more: US Crypto Tax Guide 2022

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The Best Crypto Tax Calculator: Cointracking

The best crypto tax software to import and track your crypto trades is CoinTracking.

You can import your trades using CSV or API, track your gains/losses, and generate tax reports according to your preferred accounting method.

CoinTracking is your full crypto tax solution for:

• 25+ advanced reports, including which coins offer you a tax-free rate.

• Automatic capital Gains, according to 12 accounting methods , accepted worldwide.

• Generating complete Tax Reports in your country.

Moreover, CoinTracking can easily classify all your earnings from yield farming, liquidity pools, crypto staking, and much more.

First Fill In The Initial Information At The Top Of The Tax Form 8949 For The Short Term Trades Section You Will Need To Select Check Box A B Or C In Part I:

• Short-term transactions reported on Form 1099-B showing basis was reported to the IRS

• Short-term transactions reported on Form 1099-B showing basis wasnt reported to the IRS

• Short-term transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-B

You will most likely select check box C, as exchanges typically do not provide crypto 1099s. However, if an exchange has provided you a 1099-B, you will want to check A or B.

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What Is A Disposition

This refers to the way you get rid of something, such as by giving, selling or transferring it. In general, possessing or holding a cryptocurrency is not taxable. But there could be tax consequences when you do any of the following:

• sell or make a gift of cryptocurrency
• trade or exchange cryptocurrency, including disposing of one cryptocurrency to get another cryptocurrency
• convert cryptocurrency to government-issued currency, such as Canadian dollars
• use cryptocurrency to buy goods or services

Reporting Transactions With Cryptocurrency: Canadian Tax Information

Weve already mentioned that you need to keep an accurate record of all transactions you make with digital currencies. Most cryptocurrencies use a public ledger to record transactions therefore, its easy to keep track of incoming and outgoing crypto transfers.

Once your private information is associated with a wallet address, its relatively straightforward to identify if you withheld information from the CRA.

To avoid any misunderstandings and present your information clearly in the 5000-S3 Schedule 3 – Capital Gains form, collect the following information on your transactions:

• Exact date and time of each transaction
• Number of coins included in the transaction
• Wallet address or addresses you used in the transaction
• Recipients address
• Any information from a crypto exchange
• Any expenses that may apply .

Read Also: How Do Tax Write Offs Work

Do I Need To Report Cryptocurrency On My Taxes

For the majority of people who have interacted with cryptocurrency, the answer is yes, you do need to report crypto on your taxes. However, there are a few situations that dont result in a taxable event, which we will clarify below.

With that said, its important to understand what type of activity exactly constitutes a taxable event when filling out your tax forms. For the first time ever, the IRS has placed a question at the top of Form 1040 that asks , t any time during 2020, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?

Essentially, by placing this question front and center on Form 1040, the IRS is indicating that you can no longer claim you simply didnt know you were supposed to report it.

By checking yes to the question above, the IRS will look to see if you also filed an IRS 8949 form, the same form used when reporting gains and losses on stocks or equities. And if you fail to file this form, you can almost certainly expect to be audited.

But, as mentioned above, not all cryptocurrency activity is taxable. Lets break down what events you do need to include in your tax reporting, and what sort of events arent taxable.

Can You Deduct Stolen Crypto

The digital nature of cryptocurrencies makes them especially susceptible to theft. For example, the Federal Trade Commission reckons that Elon Musk impersonators alone stole more than $2 million over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, unlike a stolen credit card or bank account, there’s no way to easily and quickly recover the funds.

Crypto theft comes in many forms:

• Crypto Exchange Hacks – Vulnerabilities in crypto exchanges could enable hackers to access users’ accounts. For instance, hackers stole over $30 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum from Crypto.com in January 2022.
• Malware – Hackers use malware to steal credentials from users’ computers or smartphones. For example, Cryptbot malwareâa program that steals a userâs wallet detailsâraked in nearly a half-million dollars in Bitcoin last year.
• Physical Theft – Stolen laptops or hardware wallets can result in losses from theft. In addition, hackers have been known to mail compromised hardware wallets to unsuspecting users, enabling them to steal cryptocurrency from them.

As with casualty losses, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminates deductions for theft losses, meaning you cannot deduct these types of losses on your tax return.

Tldr: No, you cannot deduct stolen crypto on your taxes.

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Example : Business Income Or Loss

Alice regularly buys and sells various types of cryptocurrencies. She pays close attention to the fluctuations in the value of cryptocurrencies and intends to profit from the fluctuations. Her activities are consistent with someone who is engaged in the business of day trading. In 2017, Alice sold $240,000 worth of various cryptocurrencies, which she originally purchased for $200,000. Her net profit is $40,000. Since Alice is actively trading in cryptocurrency, which is a commercial activity, she has to report business income of $40,000 on her 2017 income tax return.

How To Report Crypto On Tax Forms 8949 And 1040

In this five-step guide, we outline how to report cryptocurrency on taxes and file crypto tax forms, such as Form 8949.

TokenTax content followsstrict guidelinesfor editorial accuracy and integrity.

While there may only be 5 tasks listed, don’t be fooled: each one can take quite a lot of time and energy, depending on the volume of your transactions, whether you use crypto tax software, and the completeness of your record-keeping. In this guide, we’ll go over the instructions for each step.

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Cryptocurrency As A Capital Gain

So, when do you have to pay capital gains tax on Bitcoin or other coins you sell? First, its important for the transaction not to be regarded as business income, as we already discussed. You only need to pay taxes if you sell your coins at a profit.

Such gains are included in the income for that year. However, only 50% of the profit is a taxable capital gain. Cryptocurrency taxes in Canada dont allow taxpayers to offset their employment income by losses incurred by trades to reduce the amount of taxes that need to be paid. Even so, capital losses can offset any capital gains made in the same year, the preceding three-year period, or the following years.

Capital gains tax applies to 50% of the amount of profit you make, and the same goes for capital losses. You can only offset gains by 50% of the losses you made.

Will My State Tax My Crypto Transactions

Dont forget about state taxes.

Most states have not specifically addressed virtual currency, which means that the majority of states that have an income tax would follow the federal lead, Luscombe said.

Any money you earn from your crypto investments or income payments will be factored into your federal adjusted gross income. And most states use your federal AGI as a starting point.

Two states Nevada and Wyoming, neither of which have an income tax have specifiedthey would not subject virtual currency transactions to the state property tax, Luscombe said.

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Do I Have To Pay Crypto Taxes On Stablecoins

Stablecoins are not recognized by a tax authority as a foreign currency. Your trade from a cryptocurrency to a stablecoin is the purchase of cryptocurrency and a taxable event. Stablecoins are treated just like BTC or ETH when considering your taxes. The sale of stablecoins to cash is also considered a taxable event- but usually without very large tax implications.

Crypto Taxes In 202: Tax Rules For Bitcoin And Others

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• 4. What happens if you dont report cryptocurrency on taxes?

With cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, you can run afoul of the IRS in a few surprising ways, so it pays to learn the rules.

The big picture? Digital assets that you buy, sell, mine or use to pay for things can be taxable. Also, if your employer or client pays you in crypto, that payment is taxable income. You report your transactions in U.S. dollars, which generally means converting the value of your cryptocurrency to dollars when you buy, sell, mine or use it.

» Worried about crypto taxes? Find the right crypto tax software program for you

Heres how crypto taxes work:

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Complete Irs Form 8949

IRS Form 8949 is used for reporting the sales and disposals of capital assets. Some examples of capital assets include stocks, bonds, and yes, cryptocurrencies.

While youâll need to report your capital gains and capital losses on Form 8949, youâll also need the following information on each individual transaction:

• A description of the property you sold
• The date you originally acquired the property
• The date you sold or disposed of the property
• Proceeds from the sale
• Your cost basis for purchasing the property
• Your gain or loss

Want a demonstration of how to fill out Form 8949? Check out the video below.

Valuing Cryptocurrencies Either As Capital Property Or Inventory

To file your income tax return, you need to know how to value your cryptocurrencies. This depends on whether they are considered capital property or inventory. When cryptocurrencies are held as capital property, you must record and track the adjusted cost base so that you can accurately report any capital gains.

If the cryptocurrencies are considered to be inventory, use one of the following two methods of valuing inventory consistently from year to year:

• value each item in the inventory at its cost when it was acquired or its fair market value at the end of the year, whichever is lower
• value the entire inventory at its fair market value at the end of the year

You might have to use other methods of valuing inventory, depending on the type of business you have. For example, property described in the inventory of a business that is an adventure or concern in the nature of trade must be valued at the cost you acquired the property for.

You will have to compare the cost and the fair market value of each item to figure out which is lower. You then use the lower figure for each item to calculate the total value of your inventory at the end of the year.

“Cost” as used in the phrase “cost at which the taxpayer acquired the property,” means the original cost of the particular item of inventory , plus all reasonable costs incurred to buy that particular block of cryptocurrency.

Use the same inventory method from year to year. Please review our archived page on inventory .

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Do You Have To Report Crypto To The Irs

If you have a profit/loss from crypto trading or receive any form of income in crypto, youll need to report it to the IRS.

Lets see the crypto operations you need to report and which taxes are due in each case:

• Selling crypto for USD: Capital gains taxes

• Trading crypto for another cryptocurrency: Capital gains taxes

• Trading a cryptocurrency like ETH for a stablecoin: Capital gains taxes

• Earning interest in crypto: Ordinary income taxes

• Receiving a crypto airdrop: Ordinary income taxes

• Receiving crypto staking rewards: Ordinary income taxes

• Earning a salary in crypto: Ordinary income taxes

• Receiving new coins from a hard fork: Ordinary income taxes

• Receiving crypto as a bonus reward, referral fees, tips: Ordinary income taxes

If You Make Charitable Contributions And Gifts In Crypto

If you itemize your deductions, you may donate cryptocurrency to qualified charitable organizations and claim a tax deduction. You typically can deduct the fair market value of your cryptocurrency at the time of charitable contribution, and you dont have to pay capital gains taxes when you donate.

Cryptocurrency charitable contributions are treated as non-cash charitable contributions. A charitable organization may assist in documenting your crypto-charitable contribution by providing a written acknowledgement if claiming a deduction of $250 or more for the virtual currency deduction.

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Making Donations To Charity

Crypto capital gains in Canada can be offset by making a donation to a charitable organization. The good thing about this method is that you dont have to sell your crypto assets to do it. You can simply donate them directly to the charity of your choice.

All you have to do is find a charity that accepts cryptocurrency donations and send them the coins you want to donate. The organization will then issue you a receipt, which you can use to offset your taxes.

Donating to charity is a great way to reduce your taxes while helping a cause you believe in. Its a win-win situation for everyone involved.