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I made a whole $50 on Coinbase. I expected some tax form to arrive, and it never came. Honestly I completely forgot about it until I saw this. I wonder if th

by ulkesh 10y ago

I made a whole $50 on Coinbase. I expected some tax form to arrive, and it never came. Honestly I completely forgot about it until I saw this. I wonder if that $50 will end up being hundreds owed in some kind of late fees/etc.

drcode 10y ago
I'm pretty sure they'll be overwhelmed by going after larger fish and nothing will ever come of it for such a small amount.
- _pdp_ 10y ago
  Well, unless they scale it - like for example going to Coinbase and asking for all accounts created between 2013 and 2015 :)
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- _pdp_ 10y ago
  Well, unless they scale it - like for example going to Coinbase and asking for all accounts created between 2013 and 2015 :)
lettergram 10y ago
They will probably not go after anyone who made less than like $500. Remember each time they go after someone it costs them money too.
- thfuran 10y ago
  The IRS is kind of strapped for money. I suspect the threshold is way over $500.
  - eco 10y ago
    We had a couple of agents show up at our door over something like $17. They weren't even from the nearest IRS office (50 miles away instead of 10 miles). Our theory is that they needed an excuse to drive up and try the new In-N-Out that just opened up in the state.
loeg 10y ago
> I wonder if that $50 will end up being hundreds owed in some kind of late fees/etc. No. Penalties are proportionate.
- logfromblammo 10y ago
  Spoken like someone who has never been penalized by the IRS. If you get a zealous agent, they will tack on anything even remotely plausible to nail you with. If you get an "it's a job" agent, they will do the minimum amount of work to process your file out of their inbox. The difference between the two can be thousands of dollars, not just hundreds.
  - loeg 10y ago
    It really depends on how you underpaid or underreported your taxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_penalties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_penalties Note that you can only be penalized if you screwed up. If you've paid your taxes appropriately, there is no penalty. So yeah, to the best of my ability I've filed my taxes accurately and paid the amount due, and I've never had to pay an IRS penalty.
    - logfromblammo 10y ago
      I have never been entirely convinced that I have neither screwed up somehow in filing US federal tax forms, nor paid the minimum possible amount in tax. Even if I were to somehow correctly claim every applicable reduction, and keep all the necessary supporting documentation, I still couldn't be certain that some faceless IRS agent wouldn't later tax my time by arbitrarily making me defend my filings in detail. Being objectively correct is not adequate defense against IRS penalties. If you have never had to pay one, it may just be because the IRS computer never (randomly?) spat out your number for further scrutiny by a human.

by ulkesh 10y ago

drcode 10y ago

I'm pretty sure they'll be overwhelmed by going after larger fish and nothing will ever come of it for such a small amount.

_pdp_ 10y ago
Well, unless they scale it - like for example going to Coinbase and asking for all accounts created between 2013 and 2015 :)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
_pdp_ 10y ago
Well, unless they scale it - like for example going to Coinbase and asking for all accounts created between 2013 and 2015 :)

lettergram 10y ago

They will probably not go after anyone who made less than like $500. Remember each time they go after someone it costs them money too.

thfuran 10y ago
The IRS is kind of strapped for money. I suspect the threshold is way over $500.
- eco 10y ago
  We had a couple of agents show up at our door over something like $17. They weren't even from the nearest IRS office (50 miles away instead of 10 miles). Our theory is that they needed an excuse to drive up and try the new In-N-Out that just opened up in the state.

loeg 10y ago

> I wonder if that $50 will end up being hundreds owed in some kind of late fees/etc. No. Penalties are proportionate.

logfromblammo 10y ago
Spoken like someone who has never been penalized by the IRS. If you get a zealous agent, they will tack on anything even remotely plausible to nail you with. If you get an "it's a job" agent, they will do the minimum amount of work to process your file out of their inbox. The difference between the two can be thousands of dollars, not just hundreds.
- loeg 10y ago
  It really depends on how you underpaid or underreported your taxes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_penalties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_penalties Note that you can only be penalized if you screwed up. If you've paid your taxes appropriately, there is no penalty. So yeah, to the best of my ability I've filed my taxes accurately and paid the amount due, and I've never had to pay an IRS penalty.
  - logfromblammo 10y ago
    I have never been entirely convinced that I have neither screwed up somehow in filing US federal tax forms, nor paid the minimum possible amount in tax. Even if I were to somehow correctly claim every applicable reduction, and keep all the necessary supporting documentation, I still couldn't be certain that some faceless IRS agent wouldn't later tax my time by arbitrarily making me defend my filings in detail. Being objectively correct is not adequate defense against IRS penalties. If you have never had to pay one, it may just be because the IRS computer never (randomly?) spat out your number for further scrutiny by a human.