Knowledge is power in avoiding common tax pitfalls and complying with IRS regulations. By identifying taxable events, keeping accurate records, and taking advantage of tax-advantaged accounts you can optimize your crypto tax situation.
Cryptocurrencies are treated as property for tax purposes, meaning the purchase and sale could result in capital gains or losses similar to stocks.
Taxes on Gains
United States cryptocurrency investors must pay capital gains tax on any profits earned from trading or disposing of virtual assets due to federal law treating them as property.
Gains are subject to taxes when you sell cryptocurrency for cash or use it for goods and services. In order to calculate taxable gains accurately, it’s necessary to know both its original cost basis and fair market value at time of sale.
Maintaining meticulous records is of utmost importance in managing cryptocurrency trading activities. When trading on an exchange, Form 1099-B will detail your realized gains and losses; however if transferring cryptocurrency directly from one wallet to another (P2P transfers) takes place you must record this yourself since the IRS does not recognize this form of transfer as like-kind exchanges.
Taxes on Losses
But while it can be rewarding to see your cryptocurrency investments gain value, selling at a loss may also have serious tax repercussions. As the IRS considers cryptocurrency property for federal income tax purposes, selling off cryptocurrency at a loss may trigger capital gains taxes just like selling more conventional assets that yield profits – including regular assets with which capital gains tax should be withheld from proceeds of sale.
Losses related to cryptocurrency trading and exchanges may be deducted on your tax return if you itemize and have enough qualifying expenses, which in 2022 was especially helpful as several major crypto firms went bankrupt and many users experienced losses due to “hard fork” events or “airdrop giveaways”, among other trading-related events and giveaways.
Calculating capital gains and losses can be challenging, so many cryptocurrency investors turn to software solutions like CoinLedger to facilitate reporting. CoinLedger can help make this task much simpler when it comes to tracking token transfers between wallets or trades that involve swapping one cryptocurrency for another.
Taxes on Swaps
As well as capital gains taxes, traders must also pay taxes on any swaps they execute – whether crypto-to-crypto or on traditional exchanges. Investors should keep careful records of their trading activity and have it audited by a tax professional regularly.
The Internal Revenue Service has recently clarified that exchanging one cryptocurrency for another is subject to taxes. They have begun applying short-term capital gains taxes on pre-2018 crypto-to-crypto exchanges that don’t qualify for 1031 tax-free exchange treatment, such as exchanging bitcoin for another cryptocurrency.
However, the IRS is working on collecting better data on crypto trading and investors; many brokers now provide options for managing digital assets that do not constitute securities. Additionally, the IRS recently proposed altering long-term capital gains tax rates; therefore it is crucial that we follow its proposals closely. NerdWallet ratings of online brokers and robo-advisors cover customer support, investment choices and mobile app capabilities as well as fees/minimums – in fact our scoring formula takes into account over 15 factors that impact editorial decisions by NerdWallet editors.
Taxes on Trading
Cryptocurrency trading, mining or staking activities are treated similarly to any other investments – any profits or losses are taxed as capital gains and/or income depending on how long and for how much the cryptocurrency was held before selling or exchanging it.
If you were to trade bitcoin for ethereum, your taxable gain would equal the difference between what was received minus what you originally spent (cost basis) on purchasing bitcoins and your profits from mining or staking, taxed as either short-term capital gains or long-term capital gains.
Cryptocurrency exchanges do not offer accurate tax reporting services for their users due to how cryptocurrencies move between wallets and exchanges; an exchange only knows when crypto shows up on its platform, not how or what price was originally paid for it in USD terms. Therefore, individual users must track and calculate their own tax reporting data themselves.