H&R Block’s Andy Phillips answers the big questions around cryptocurrency and taxes.

Yes, you must claim your crypto on your tax return

Finance

Yes, you must claim your crypto on your tax return


the most common mistake that people make with taxes in general also carries into crypto and folks may begin to invest in crypto and sometimes to a large extent without really understanding the tax implications of what that means. Um And so that failure to have a good understanding of the tax consequences of those of those crypto transactions um can often lead to future mistakes. Starting a few years ago, the I. R. S. Added a direct question onto your tax return. The people have to answer whether they engaged in certain crypto related transactions for your 2021 tax return. You need to check yes and disclosed to the I. R. S. That you had crypto transactions in the following situations. So first if you received crypto in any situation other than it was just a bona fide legitimate gift. The second situation where you need to check yes is when you exchange crypto for goods or services. Maybe you sold something in the real world and instead of getting paid in cash you were paid in a virtual or crypto currency. Um Alternatively it may be a situation where you just performed a consulting or some sort of independent contractor gig. Um And instead of paying US dollar, you received virtual Cryptocurrency again you need to check yes on your tax return and you need to report the the income associated with that as well. Really the only situation where you don't have to check yes on the 10 40 is either you have no Cryptocurrency holdings or all you did was just purchase crypto with fiat currency like the US dollar during the year. You didn't dispose of any or you had Cryptocurrency at the beginning of the year, had no other transactions and still hold it at the end of the year. In those cases you don't have to check yet. Although Cryptocurrency is not stock for most tax purposes, it's treated in a very similar fashion to stock transactions. The result is you need to keep track of how much you pay for crypto different cryptocurrencies, uh sales proceeds when you sell them and then how long you held the underlying Cryptocurrency meaning the day you purchased it and the date disposed of it when you dispose of them, you generally have gained or lost depending on how much you paid for the underlying assets compared to how much you disposed of it for. Generally those gains are going to be taxed as capital gains. A couple exceptions would be those people that are getting paid in crypto um And as part of their business. Um So again, you're an independent contractor or a small business owner and you get paid in Cryptocurrency, that's actually just going to be treated along with the rest of the money you received during the year as business income or loss. Mhm. The biggest distinction amongst different types of these digital assets is N. F. T specifically may be treated as a collectible. Um There's not formal guidance on this yet. But what a collectible is is things like antiques, gold coins, fine art that are not fungible meaning you can't replace that particular asset or investment with something that's basically identical. If those are treated as a collectible, higher income taxpayers may actually pay a higher tax rate on their long term capital gains than they would um for other investments, just like Cryptocurrency, long term capital gains typically max out on just the capital gains part of 20% But collectibles can get as high as 28%. You know, the tax impact are actually different when you purchase physical real estate compared to um you know, real estate or property. In the metaverse. For example, you generally can get a mortgage when you buy a home in the real world. You may do the same in the metaverse, you may have a payment plan that you're paying off whatever the purchase prices. Um And there may be an interest component on on that payoff process with physical real estate, you may be able to deduct both your mortgage interest and your property taxes associated with that home. If you itemize deductions. On the other hand, those personal deductions won't be available for property that you bought in the metaverse, even if it seems like it's a real property in the metaverse, like a home. There are a few different consequences you can face for not reporting Cryptocurrency gains and losses on your tax return, particularly the games if you have a substantial understatement or the I. R. S. Has taken the position that you know it's it's fraud or intentional willful conduct. You may face some of those accuracy related penalties that can become pretty substantial even if you don't get into that situation. But you've under reported your crypto transactions or specifically your crypto gains and it's later that you have to report that and correct it. And you do owe additional taxes. You're gonna have a couple of things that you're gonna go. You're gonna a penalty for the underpayment of tax which is going to be figured against the amount you should have paid on the due date of your tax return versus what you actually paid and that's a small amount each month. That can add up to 25% of your total tax liability just in penalties second. Any amount that remains unpaid or underpaid after the due date of your tax return. You will be subject to interest on that. And the interest rate that you pay on underpayments to the I. R. S. It's a little over 3%. Not to mention that's just on the federal side. If you under reported on your state return you may face some of those exact same consequences if you live in a state that that requires you to file an individual income tax