If you thought trading Bitcoin was wild, try figuring out how to pay taxes on it.
Cryptocurrency investors are wrestling with spotty records, tangled blockchain addresses and rudimentary guidelines issued back in the ancient days of 2014. After last year’s boom in values, many people are likely disclosing transactions for the first time, adding to confusion.
Digital-coin enthusiasts and tax professionals are “freaking out” before next week’s filing deadline, said David Siegel, co-founder of a company that’s building a digital wallet for crypto investors. They’re scrambling to track down even basic information in a murky world where tokens are traded on multiple exchanges with limited recordkeeping.
“The big unknown is, who owns what, when and in what jurisdiction,” said Siegel. “That’s really hard to determine in a surprising number of cases.”
Last year’s 1,400 percent surge in Bitcoin lured droves of investors into the virtual currency and competitors such as Ether and Ripple. Since Bitcoin reached its peak of around $20,000 in December, before losing roughly half its value in 2018, many of those who sold last year would have gains to report.
For investors in need of help, it can be difficult to find someone who can adeptly take on the filing challenge. Many tax preparers are put off by the industry’s lack of records, as well as its association with criminal activity, said David Klasing, an accountant and tax lawyer in Irvine, California, who specializes in digital currencies. Others simply don’t have the expertise.
“There’s a lot of professionals that are coming in and trying to figure out how to provide services -- attorneys and CPAs and accountants,” said Irina Litchfield, an Austin, Texas-based adviser for blockchain startups and initial coin offerings. “Not a lot of them actually know how to do it well.”
Taxed as Property
The Internal Revenue Service’s only guidance on digital tokens came in 2014 -- before the industry hit breakneck growth. It said that in general it treats cryptocurrencies like property, which means most sales and trades are subject to capital-gains tax.
Simply buying digital coins and holding onto them shouldn’t trigger a tax bill. But just about every other crypto transaction could, at a welter of rates. Think mining, which many accountants consider taxable as ordinary income and possibly self-employment tax. Or using Bitcoin to buy a sofa on Overstock.com -- cue capital-gains taxes. Swapping one digital currency for another seems to be tax-free for this year’s return, though that will change next year with the new tax law.
But then there are trickier scenarios like “air drops,” when coins magically appear out of nowhere in your digital wallet. Or “hard forks,” when a cryptocurrency splits in two. Many accountants say the latter two are taxable like ordinary income.