TL; DR
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The IRS has drafted a bill that wants to report crypto companies all user transactions towards them – audit or no audit – whether people are buying a cup of coffee or a house.
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Setting this level of financial supervision as the ‘default’ is not something the crypto community is willing to accept.
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That’s why they left collectively 120,000 public comments on the bill and forced a public hearing for later today.
Full story
This feels weird to say, but…we have a juicy tax law story for you.
First, here’s some context…
The problem: US tax law surrounding crypto is quite vague, which discourages many investors from entering this sector.
The solution: write/enact crypto-specific tax laws so everyone knows what rules they need to follow.
The problem with the solution: Some of the new laws proposed by the IRS are seen by the crypto community as a privacy overreach…
Representatives of Coinbase (which owns the Edward Snowden documentary) have gone so far as to say that the new proposed laws:
“Would a unprecedented, unmonitored and unlimited tracking about the daily lives of Americans”.
Okay… so what’s going on? Is the tax authorities Actually exaggerate?
Yeah, sort of.
The current concept wants crypto companies (such as Coinbase) to come forward all user transactions towards them – whether people are buying a cup of coffee or a house.
Which is certainly something they (the IRS) already have access to outside of crypto. The difference is that this kind of thing currently requires permission, for example:
“Hey, we’re checking on you. Give us access to your bank/credit statements so we can make sure you’re not avoiding taxes (or at risk of jail time).”
Setting this level of financial supervision as the ‘default’ is not something the crypto community is willing to accept, which is why they have collectively left. 120,000 public comments on the bill and forced a public hearing for later today.
(Let’s hope it has an effect!)