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> "the IRS already asks you specifically if you own assets [digital currency] [ii]" I don't see anywhere in [ii] where it specifically says that you have to di
by em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
> "the IRS already asks you specifically if you own assets [digital currency] [ii]"
I don't see anywhere in [ii] where it specifically says that you have to disclose the mere ownership of personally-held bitcoins. That is just saying that you have treat bitcoin just like any other property.
- ransom1538 9y agoExactly. It is an asset. So you only disclose when you sell?
- tehlike 9y agoWhat does it mean to sell? People have already generated lots of taxable event when they started diversifying into other coins for example.
- heimatau 9y agoYup. That is a huge question.
- sp821543 9y agoIt is my understanding that trading one for another, (BTC to ETH, for example), is a taxable event thus has to be reported.
- tehlike 9y agoYes, exactly the way i am thinking (and probably IRS will think). This is the way it happens for stocks and pretty much everything.
- rubyfan 9y agoYou don’t disclose assets to the IRS, only income. If you disclose your income and pay tax on it then convert it to BTC today you aren’t obliged to disclose it. In theory after you sell it you’d have a capital gain to disclose.
- lstyls 9y agoNot true. There are reporting requirements for certain foreign assets, including cash in overseas accounts.
- rubyfan 9y agoDidn’t know, can you elaborate on that?
- lstyls 9y agoSorry for the delay! https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-f...
- heimatau 9y agoDoesn't apply to crypto. Only have to report if the crypto is sold.
- krrrh 9y agoI guess the implication is that you have to report foreign assets specifically because it’s not easy for the IRS to obtain records from foreign financial institutions. Since it’s also not easy for them to obtain records from a decentralized crypto-currency then the same justification exists for adding these to a list of things you must report.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoThe law doesn't care whether the same justification exists. A bitcoin wallet in your house in US is not a foreign asset, since those bits (that representing private keys for bitcoin addresses) are physically in the US.
- krrrh 9y agoRight, the existing reporting law doesn’t pertain to assets stored decentralized “institutions” only foreign ones. Presumably that is why they are talking about changing the law.