crypto-IRS-guidlines

Congress Strongly Urging IRS To Update Crypto Currency Tax Guidelines

With the rise in popularity of crypto currency and the uncertainty of the tax law governing the reporting of crypto currency, members of Congress have asked the IRS to provide updated guidelines on how taxpayers should report profits associated with investing in crypto currency.

Congress’ Letter to The IRS Criticizing The Enforcement Of Tax Law Without Clear Guidance.

In a letter dated September 19, 2018 and published on the House Ways And Means Committee’s website, five representatives — Kevin Brady (R-TX), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Lynn Johnson (R-KS), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) — “strongly urged” David Kautter, Acting Commissioner Of The Internal Revenue Service to issue comprehensive, updated guidance on federal tax obligations associated with disposing crypto currency assets, either through trading or other means.

The legislators which serve on the House Ways And Means Committee were quite disturbed by the IRS’ increasing enforcement of crypto currency tax evasion, which included the issuance of a John Doe Summons on Coinbase to obtain information on customer transactions, and the IRS’ implicit refusal to provide either updated guidance or safe harbor for taxpayers who made a good-faith effort to report their crypto currency related gains.

What is intriguing about this request to IRS is that it is coming from the House Ways And Means Committee.  This is the Committee responsible for drafting all tax legislation to be considered by Congress and signed into law by the President.  If these legislators are that concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the taxation of crypto currency, then why don’t they offer legislation to address it instead of sending a letter to IRS?

Taxation of Crypto Currency.

The last guidance on crypto currency issued by IRS was in 2014 (Notice 2014-21) which provided these tax rules:

  • Trading cryptocurrencies produces capital gains or losses, with the latter being able to offset gains and reduce tax.
  • Exchanging one token for another — for example, using Ethereum to purchase an altcoin — creates a taxable event. The token is treated as being sold, thus generating capital gains or losses.
  • Receiving payments in crypto in exchange for products or services or as salary is treated as ordinary income at the fair market value of the coin at the time of receipt.
  • Spending crypto is a tax event and may generate capital gains or losses, which can be short-term or long-term. For example, say you bought one coin for $500. If that coin was then worth $700 and you bought a $700 gift card, there is a $200 taxable gain. Depending on the holding period, it could be a short- or long-term capital gain subject to different rates.
  • Converting a cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars or another currency at a gain is a taxable event, as it is treated as being sold, thus generating capital gains.
  • Air drops are considered ordinary income on the day of the air drop. That value will become the basis of the coin. When it’s sold, exchanged, etc., there will be a capital gain.
  • Mining coins is considered ordinary income equal to the fair market value of the coin the day it was successfully mined.
  • Initial coin offerings do not fall under the IRS’s tax-free treatment for raising capital. Thus, they produce ordinary income to individuals and businesses alike.

Penalties For Filing A False Income Tax Return Or Under-reporting Income,

Failure to report all the money you make is a main reason folks end up facing an IRS auditor. Carelessness on your tax return might get you whacked with a 20% penalty. But that’s nothing compared to the 75% civil penalty for willful tax fraud and possibly facing criminal charges of tax evasion that if convicted could land you in jail.

Criminal Fraud – The law defines that any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax under the Internal Revenue Code or the payment thereof is, in addition to other penalties provided by law, guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, can be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution (Code Sec. 7201).

The term “willfully” has been interpreted to require a specific intent to violate the law (U.S. v. Pomponio, 429 U.S. 10 (1976)). The term “willfulness” is defined as the voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty (Cheek v. U.S., 498 U.S. 192 (1991)).

And even if the IRS is not looking to put you in jail, they will be looking to hit you with a big tax bill with hefty penalties.

Civil Fraud – Normally the IRS will impose a negligence penalty of 20% of the underpayment of tax (Code Sec. 6662(b)(1) and 6662(b)(2)) but violations of the Internal Revenue Code with the intent to evade income taxes may result in a civil fraud penalty. In lieu of the 20% negligence penalty, the civil fraud penalty is 75% of the underpayment of tax (Code Sec. 6663). The imposition of the Civil Fraud Penalty essentially doubles your liability to the IRS!

Voluntary Disclosure – The Way To Avoid Criminal Fines & Punishment

The IRS has not yet announced a specific tax amnesty for people who failed to report their gains and income from Bitcoin and other virtual currencies but under the existing Voluntary Disclosure Program, non-compliant taxpayers can come forward to avoid criminal prosecution and negotiate lower penalties.

What Should You Do?

With only several hundred people reporting their crypto gains each year since bitcoin’s launch, the IRS suspects that many crypto users have been evading taxes by not reporting crypto transactions on their tax returns.  Don’t delay because once the IRS has targeted you for investigation – even if it is a routine random audit – it will be too late voluntarily come forward. Let the tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), San Francisco Bay Area (including San Jose and Walnut Creek) and offices elsewhere in California get you set up with a plan that may include being qualified into a voluntary disclosure program to avoid criminal prosecution, seek abatement of penalties, and minimize your tax liability.