Post
Topic
Board Legal
Re: Advice Needed Bitcoin Gurus Tax Time
by
thomasjonestaxman
on 10/01/2018, 03:52:49 UTC
I'm more familiar with CoinTracking.info but the software is the same and still in its infancy.

Note that moving forward in 2018 and beyond, coin-to-coin transactions do not qualify for like-kind deferral of gain treatment.

If this is a 2017 issue, then definitely work with a CPA or Enrolled Agent who's up on the current like-kind debate because there's a number of factors to consider.  (Just take the IRS court case that determined a cow-for-cow trade was taxable and did not qualify for like-kind treatment because one cow was male and the other female.)

So assuming we're talking about coin transactions moving forward, essentially every transaction is a taxable transaction (unless you're holding your coins in a self-directed retirement account as an investment).  That means when you sell coin, buy something with coin, trade, or exchange it, mine it, "find it" (fork or staking), you're going to have to report the transaction and there will be some sort of gain or income calculation.  For gain transactions, if the coin is held as investment property and it qualifies for capital gains treatment, then the cost basis is what you purchased it for (much easier said than recorded).  If you are holding coin as if it were cash and using it in a business transactions to purchase goods or services for your business, then the gain would be ordinary.

I could go on and maybe it does warrant a separate discussion, but I agree that bitcoin.tax has a ways to go.