Date: February 12th, 2018 11:58 PM Author: bateful aqua shrine
Wrong. He can transfer ETH to a million different exchanges and he never has to pay tax for doing that. Tax liability is only triggered at the moment that he *actually* uses the ETH to purchase another coin (if he ever does). That’s an important distinction.
It’s like taking a dollar and putting it in your piggy bank, then your wallet, then your pants pocket, then your wallet again. And then you take it to the store. So what? You don’t have to pay tax for any of that shit. You only pay tax when (if) you actually use it to buy a stick of gum, or whatever.
You are correct that he only actually incurs tax liability as a practical matter if the ETH gained in value between when he bought it and when he exchanged it for another coin/fiat.
Date: February 13th, 2018 12:03 AM Author: bateful aqua shrine
What are the exceptions? You may not owe tax as a practical matter if you buy ETH and then immediately use it to buy a shitcoin before the ETH can go up in value... or if you buy ETH and then it goes down in value and you use it to buy a shitcoin after that... but in both cases that’s only because the value of the specific transaction in question doesn’t result in a tax liability. It’s still classified as a taxable event (ie you *would* have incurred a tax liability if only the values of the specific transaction in question had been such that you made a profit from holding the ETH).
Date: February 13th, 2018 11:51 AM Author: provocative topaz shitlib
This doesn’t work, you have the burden of proof flipped. The IRS sends you a bill for $200k of cap gains, arguing you have 0 basis. It’s your burden to run the numbers and prove you have a lower liability, not on them to substantiate the 200k. Thats why you have to be proactive in filing for prior years before you get that bill.
Date: February 13th, 2018 5:18 PM Author: provocative topaz shitlib
Well, presumably If you only purchase btc/eth on coinbase, never make a filing of intra crypto trades, and then you sell 100xgains to coinbase when eth/btc has only gone up 10x in that time period, the irs gets suspicious and spits you a tax liability for the entire amount you cash out as if it’s profit. They then let you prove to them why x% is basis. If you lost money on crypto to crypto, then you lose money by not filing for those deductions.
But, point taken. 95% likelihood if you use vpn, shapeshift all your shit to monero, sell it on an exchange to btc using a vpn and throwaway email, and wear a mask while withdrawing from a foreign bitcoin atm $200 at a time, I could see you beating enforcement. On the other hand, if in ten years they develop software that can track that, that looks a lot less like negligent failure to report crypto to crypto transactions, and a lot like felonious tax evasion.
Your risk tolerance may vary. But I’m documenting as much as I can. Capone couldn’t beat the irs, get rich quick crypto kids won’t either.