How To Not Pay Taxes On Crypto Gains

For the terminal few years, cryptocurrency has been all over the news and has become a global buzzword after Bitcoin reached its all-time loftier in the fourth quarter of 2021. Even though crypto is the talk of the internet, there are still many who remain unaware of how it is revolutionizing the way we call back virtually coin and how it volition exist utilized in the time to come.

This cryptocurrency tax guide covers everything y’all need to know about cryptocurrency tax laws in the U.s.a. in 2022! Allow’due south dive right in.

What Is Cryptocurrency?

The shortest and simplest reply to this question is: cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency. In that location are two major differences between cryptocurrencies and traditional fiat currency.

1. Crypto does not produce a physical neb; it is completely digital
2. Cryptocurrency is a decentralized currency which implies that it does not follow the guidelines of whatsoever centralized authority similar that of a banking concern or the regime

What Is The Importance of Cryptocurrency and Is It Safe?

The nigh-loved feature of cryptocurrency is its very basic concept: beingness a decentralized form of currency. Owning a currency that is not controlled by whatsoever central say-so provides an excellent alternative to the way we currently conduct our monetary system.

Transactions involving cryptocurrency take identify on a public ledger called a blockchain. The ledger functions as a middleman that ensures all transactions are fair and gratis from double-spending. This ledger is protected by strong cryptography which keeps all transactions safe.

Having said that, it must exist noted that even though cryptocurrency is a decentralized arrangement, there are crypto taxes in the US that you lot need to be aware of. This crypto revenue enhancement guide will go over everything y’all demand to know near how cryptocurrency is taxed and how to properly calculate them.

How Is Cryptocurrency Taxed?

Now that nosotros take a articulate understanding of cryptocurrency and its working principles, allow’s explore how cryptocurrency is taxed.

IRS Considers Crypto As Property

Cryptocurrency is subjected to taxes overseen by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Internal Acquirement Service issued Notice 2014-21 in 2014 that stated cryptocurrency is considered ‘belongings’ and non currency.

Simply put, cryptocurrency is treated the same as stocks, bonds, and other avails that qualify for capital gains taxes. There are also instances where crypto is treated as income and thus qualifies for income taxes.

Permit’s empathize this concept with an example. Kate bought $20,000 of Ethereum in August 2021 and sold it in October 2021 for $25,000, Kate would realize $v,000 ($25,000-$twenty,000) as a capital proceeds.

On this uppercase gain, the corporeality of tax that must be paid past Kate is dependent on the tax bracket and the holding menses (brusk-term and long-term).

Merely what if Kate hadn’t bought the crypto (Ethereum, in this case)?

If she had received cryptocurrency through mining, airdrops, or as interest from lending, her income would and then be subject to income taxes, the rate of which would depend on the income slab she comes under.

Now, the adjacent question that could come to mind is – how volition the tax exist calculated? For this calculation, it is crucial to understand iii essential concepts:

• Fair market place value (FMV)
• Capital gain and loss
• Cost footing

Fair Market Value

The cost at which an item can be sold on the open market is called its fair market value. In the case of crypto, the off-white market value is the price of crypto in its equivalent fiat currency or U.Southward. Dollar. It is commonly denoted by its abridgement, FMV.

Capital Gain & Loss on Crypto

A uppercase proceeds or loss is incurred on trading or selling cryptocurrency. Just like traditional assets, upper-case letter gains will exist incurred when the toll of selling is greater than the toll it has been acquired for (refer to Kate’south instance of $5,000 every bit majuscule gains to a higher place). On the other hand, a upper-case letter loss is incurred when the toll of selling is bottom than the price it was acquired for.

Earlier selling a upper-case letter asset, you must figure out if the investment was brusque-term or long-term. Long-term gains and losses are incurred when the assets were held for more than than a yr, whereas short-term capital gains and losses are incurred when the assets have been held for less than one yr.

Price Basis Methods for Revenue enhancement Calculation

Cost basis can be defined as the amount spent to buy an asset (cost price). It also includes whatever additional expenses that were incurred at the time of acquiring the crypto, such every bit transaction or gas fees.

Diverse methods are followed for the calculation of toll basis:

• Average cost
• Specific identification
• First in, first-out (FIFO)

How To Summate Your Crypto Taxes?

Now that we know the basic terminologies used for crypto revenue enhancement calculation, let’southward explore taxable events, various tax methods, and the concept of tax-loss harvesting.

Taxable vs. Not-Taxable Crypto Events

Most crypto transactions are taxable – but not all of them.

Taxable crypto transactions include:

• When you sell crypto for fiat currency like the U.S. Dollar, Euro, Canadian Dollar, etc.
• Merchandise crypto for another crypto, such every bit Bitcoin for Ethereum, and Ethereum for Cardano
• Buy goods or services using crypto
• Receive crypto because of advanced crypto situations, like a hard fork or crypto mining

Non-taxable crypto transactions include:

• When yous purchase crypto with fiat currency
• Transfer crypto from 1 of your wallets to another crypto wallet that you own
• Gifting crypto (non-taxable below a limit, subject to souvenir tax above that)
• Donate crypto to a tax-exempt organization

Crypto Tax Rates: Long-Term vs. Short-Term Capital Gains

The rates of crypto taxes depend on the property period of the nugget and can be categorized into ii groups; long-term and curt-term gains.

one. Long-Term Capital Gains

Long-term gains are practical to crypto-assets that have been held for 366 days or more. Investors who opt for long-term investments are at an advantage compared to those holding brusque-term crypto investments because long-term investors are subject area to incentives and lower crypto tax rates.

As of 2021, the long-term capital gains slab ranges from 0% to 20%, depending on a few parameters. Hither’s a listing of the
rates of cryptocurrency taxes for long-term crypto holdings.

2.
Brusk-Term Majuscule Gains

Short-term gains are applied to crypto-assets that have been held for less than 365 days. Unlike long-term gains, brusque-term gains do not receive any special handling. Curt-term gains are analogous to income from a job and are thus subjected to taxes according to income slabs.

As of 2021, the curt-term capital gains range from 10% to 37% depending on a few parameters and are treated equally taxes on ordinary income.

Two Types of Crypto Taxes: Capital Gain vs. Income

As mentioned before, cryptocurrencies are taxable and in the United States, and there are two types:

1. Capital Gains Tax, like to bonds, stocks, and other assets that qualify for capital gains.
2. Income Tax includes mining, staking, airdrops, and other related crypto activities from where 1 can earn income.

In the case of capital gains, the rates depend on the property period and are classified as:

1. Brusque-term capital gains tax, taxes on assets that are held for less than a yr. The rates are commonly higher and range from x% to 37%.
2. Long-term capital gains revenue enhancement, taxes on assets that are held for a period longer than a year. The rates for long-term uppercase gains range from 0% to 20%.

Here is a list of activities that fall under capital gains taxation vs. income tax.

Capital Gains Tax Activities

The gains from the following activities qualify for uppercase gains tax activities:

• Selling crypto for fiat currency
• Buying appurtenances and services using cryptocurrencies
• Trading i crypto for some other

Income Tax Activities

The earnings from the following activities are subject field to income taxation:

• DeFi lending
• Receiving crypto via airdrop
• Receiving crypto as a advantage or bug bounty
• Earning crypto past staking and liquidity pools
• Earning crypto mining income from transaction fees or block rewards
• Minting an NFT every bit an artist/creator
• Receiving token rewards from play-to-earn games (Such as Axie Infinity)

Crypto Tax Calculation Example

Suppose your annual income is $55,000 and yous file your taxes as unmarried. On Baronial 1st, you purchased $500 of BTC and sold information technology a year subsequently, on July 1st for $1,500. Your gain of $1,000 volition authorize for short-term majuscule gains at the rate of 25%, resulting in 0.25 (tax rate) *$1,000 (capital gain) = $250 (revenue enhancement owed)

Sale price of avails – Cost of acquiring avails = Short-term gains

Sale price = $1,500

Toll of acquiring assets = $500

$ane,500 (sale price) – $500 (toll of acquiring) = $1,000 (gains)

This proceeds of $1,000 is a short-term gain as the assets were sold within a period of xi months.

Annual income = $55,000, and the short-term capital gains tax rate for this income is 25%.

So, tax owed = 25% * Capital letter gains = 0.25 * $1,000 = $250

Another example is your annual income is $35,000 and you bought $500 of BTC on August 1, 2020. If yous sell it at $one,500 on August 2, 2021, you incurred a long-term capital gain of $1,000. According to the rates tabulated above, you’ll have to pay 0% taxes. Thus, no federal taxes volition apply.

Sale price of avails – Cost of acquiring assets = Long-term gains

The sale price = $1,500

The cost of acquiring assets = $500

$1,500 (sale toll) – $500 (cost of acquiring) = $1,000 (gains)

This gain of $1,000 is a long-term gain as the assets are sold afterward a period of 1 twelvemonth.

Almanac income = $35,000, and the long-term capital gains tax rate for this income is 0%.

Agreement Tax Adding Bookkeeping Methods: FIFO, LIFO, HIFO

When yous sell your crypto, you lot have to pay taxes (capital gains or income) which can be calculated using the formula:

Value at the time of selling – Toll Basis = Capital letter Gain

However, if the value at the time of selling is higher than the value at the fourth dimension of buy (purchase toll), you’ll incur a uppercase loss. This loss can be used to offset your capital gains in a item year with a method known as revenue enhancement-loss harvesting. (More on this later)

Now, the accounting method you choose to calculate your taxes decides how much tax you have to pay and can also significantly reduces your taxes. The most popular tax calculation accounting methods are:

1. FIFO (First-In-First-Out)
2. LIFO (Concluding-In-First-Out)
3. HIFO (Highest-In-First-Out)

In order to understand each of these accounting methods, allow’due south look at a unproblematic example. Suppose, on April 1st, Jake purchased $3000 of ETH. In May, he purchased some other $3500 of ETH, and on July 1st he sold ETH for $4000.

Now, what volition be the uppercase revenue enhancement that he pays on his gains? Permit’s explore method by method.

FIFO (First-In-Beginning-Out)

According to the FIFO accounting method, the assets that are bought starting time are counted kickoff. Let’south calculate the revenue enhancement in the in a higher place case.

Selling cost= $4000

Price price (April) = $3000

Upper-case letter gain= $chiliad

LIFO (Terminal-In-Kickoff-Out)

According to the LIFO accounting method, the assets that are bought final are counted first. Let’s calculate the revenue enhancement in the same instance.

Selling price= $4000

Price price (May) = $3500

Capital gain= $500

At present we can see that using the LIFO method, instead of the FIFO method will save you $500 on your majuscule gains.

HIFO (Highest-In-First-Out)

According to the HIFO bookkeeping method, the assets that are priced the highest are considered first. In the given case, it would pb to the aforementioned gains as the LIFO method, but in the case of hundreds of transactions, the gains would significantly vary.

Which Crypto Tax Accounting Method Is Best For You?

Fifty-fifty though LIFO and HIFO tin help you shield yourself from paying hefty taxes, FIFO is the near mutual method among taxpayers.

Information technology must likewise be noted that if yous intend to use the LIFO or the HIFO method for gains calculations, you have to go on a detailed record of all your transactions. Merely then y’all tin calculate the gains in a hassle-free fashion.

This was all about calculating your majuscule gains, merely what if you incur losses? Let’s explore tax losses and how harvesting those losses can aid y’all minimize your tax obligations.

Crypto Revenue enhancement-Loss Harvesting

We know that whenever we sell real manor, stocks, or virtual currency for a turn a profit, we have to pay capital gains revenue enhancement on the earnings. But a number of investors opt to sell a function of their avails at a loss, in gild to reduce the capital gains and hence, the tax liability in a particular yr, which is known equally tax-loss harvesting.

Crypto Tax-Loss Harvesting Case

Let’s consider that Tim gained $10,000 on Ethereum this yr, but he too owns a few Ripple that he bought a couple of years ago at $8,000, which is now priced at only $ii,000.

Tim tin now “harvest” his Ripple losses by selling it or exchanging it for some other crypto. This results in a taxable consequence and $6,000 in capital losses ($eight,000 – $2,000).

Tim’s $6,000 loss brings his total capital gains to $iv,000. ($10,000 – $half-dozen,000).

Advanced Crypto Tax Situations With Examples

Whether you lot’re new to crypto or not, it is essential to understand advanced crypto tax situations such equally airdrops, mining, staking, and their specific revenue enhancement implications.

Crypto Airdrops

If yous accept free coins sent to your wallet, it is termed an “airdrop.” In this scenario, the way you utilize the coins will accept an impact on how they’ll be taxed. Since airdrops are similar to costless coin received as part of a giveaway or a lottery victory, they will be taxed as ordinary income at the fair market value on the date of receipt.

Example:

Suppose Alan received 300 UNI tokens in the Uniswap airdrop of September 2020, when the tokens were priced at $3.50. On claiming the tokens, he earned $1050 (300*$three.50). Thus his cost base is equivalent to his income, i.e., $1050.

Two months later on he sold his 300 UNI for $2500. Every bit mentioned earlier, this is a taxable event and he incurred a gain of $one,450 ($2500-$1050).

Crypto Forks

In the crypto world, when a blockchain experiences a diversion into ii paths forward, it is called a fork and the crypto y’all receive as a consequence of this fork is taxed as income. Forks can also be understood as a protocol change resulting in a permanent diversion from the legacy distributed ledger.‍

Example:

In July 2021, Eric owned three.5 ETH and as a result of the Bitcoin Cash hard fork he received three.5 Bitcoin Greenbacks.

He would earn $ane,575 ($450*three.five) if Bitcoin Cash was trading at $450 per BCH on the twenty-four hours he received it. Therefore, Eric’south cost ground on Bitcoin Cash volition exist $i,575.

Earned Income

If you earn cryptocurrency from a task, staking, or mining, your earnings volition exist considered as ordinary income and will exist reported accordingly.

Mining

Crypto mining taxes are analogous to regular income taxes. When you successfully mine virtual currency, you lot create a taxable consequence, and you must declare the fair marketplace value of the mined coins as gross income at the time of reporting crypto taxes.

The process of reporting crypto mining taxes depends on whether the miners are hobby miners or professional miners.

Hobby Miners

• Income to exist reported in line 21 (other income) of your Form 1040 Schedule 1 (Additional Income and Adjustments to Income)
• Direct expenses of mining to be reported on a Schedule A (Itemized Deductions) and miscellaneous expenses are subject to 2% of AGI limitation (applies simply to 2017 and prior years)

Professional Miners

• Both income and expenses to be reported on a Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business organisation) or on applicable business concern returns (Form 1065, Course 1120, and Course 1120S)
• Income can exist subject to the 15.3% self-employment tax
• Outset mining income by deducting business expenses

Crypto Mining Taxes

The formula for calculating your gains and losses is:

Sale Price – Cost Basis = Majuscule Gains/Loss

The value of the coin at the moment it was mined is your cost basis (the amount included as ordinary income). To calculate your upper-case letter proceeds or loss, you lot have to subtract this amount from the toll you lot sold the mined coins for.

You get a capital gain if the value of the coin is college than your cost basis at the moment of selling. If the value is less than the market value, the taxpayer volition endure a capital loss. An IRS 8949 cryptocurrency taxation form must exist filled out for every sale or transfer of mined cryptocurrency.

Example:

Suppose John earned 0.twenty BTC from mining on a day when Bitcoin was worth $34,000 ($.20 * $34,000 = $6,800). The price of BTC grew to $38,000 at the cease of the tax year (.20 * $38,000 = $7,600). Withal, because the taxable event occurs when bitcoin is deposited, even though the nugget’s current value is $seven,600, you lot would still exist taxed on $6,800 of income.

Staking/Farming

Proof of Pale is a consensus technique that allows blockchain networks to use less energy while retaining a reasonable level of decentralization. If you lot’ve earned $600 or more in a unmarried tax year, you lot’ll have to report your earned income using the Course-1099-MISC (Miscellaneous Income).

Borrowing/Lending/Involvement Income

If you’re earning income in the form of interest from whatever crypto lending operation or liquidity pool, your income is taxable. This income has to exist reported on your taxes like to mining and other staking incomes.

NFTs

NFT, curt for Non-Fungible Taxes, refers to a special kind of digital asset that uses blockchain technology to verify its authenticity. Information technology can include JPEG, MP4, and also GIF. Each of these NFTs has a unique ID that can be verified to identify the 1 who minted, produced, and initially held it.

Taxable NFT Activities

• In exchange for bitcoin, you sell an NFT
• Using a fungible money to buy an NFT
• An NFT is exchanged for another NFT

Buying and selling NFTs volition incur capital gains or losses depending on how the fair market value of the tokens you lot used for the transaction has changed since you got them. Also, if you lot are the creator of NFTs, the revenue that you get is considered regular income and will be taxed accordingly.

Thus, there are 2 types of NFT tax rates:

Investor Taxes

The majority of people that deal with NFTs are investors. These are the individuals that are agile in the open market purchase and sale of NFTs. Investor taxes occur when people buy and sell NFTs.

Creator taxes

Creators are the people who mint or industry NFTs and then sell them on websites like SuperRare and OpenSea. NFTs are not taxable for creators. The Internal Revenue Service, on the other hand, considers whatsoever crypto transactions using NFTs to be taxable (IRS).

Donations & Gifts

Donations to a tax-exempt charitable organization are considered taxation-costless. If yous are donating $500 or more, information technology must be recorded on Form 8283. The corporeality of your revenue enhancement-deductible donation is calculated past how long you have owned the assets:

• If you have held your crypto assets for more than a year, 30% of your gross annual income is deducted
• If you lot have held your crypto assets for less than a year, fifty% of your gross almanac income is deducted

In the case of gifting crypto assets, you can gift up to $15,000 per friend or family fellow member and are tax-gratis for the recipient.

Margin Trading

The Internal Acquirement Service has non specified any guidelines pertaining to margin trading, simply we may deduce the likely approach based on prior guidelines. The nigh common strategy would be to care for borrowed funds every bit your own investment and pay capital gains revenue enhancement on margin trading profits and losses.

Governance & Incentive Tokens

Governance and incentive tokens are issued by DeFi networks for being active on their platform. These tokens are taxable every bit income depending on the market value of those tokens. On selling these tokens, yous’ll authorize for majuscule gains or losses.

Liquidity Pools

The revenue that is generated from liquidity pools is taxed equally capital gains and income in the following ways:

1. Capital gains:
   Yous are subjected to uppercase gains if the liquidity pool token residuum remains constant but rises in value attributable to demand or fee collection.
2. Ordinary income:
   You are subjected to ordinary income if you are getting direct involvement in the underlying nugget.

Losses From Hacks & Thefts

Losses on cryptocurrency investments due to scams, hacks, or other thefts are not treated equally casualty losses, simply instead, as investment losses.

According to tax code 165 (c)(ii), fifty-fifty though the investment is non linked to any business, your investments have been put in for turn a profit. This is why whatever loss that has occurred as a issue of scams, theft, or fraud is tax losses. But how can you merits such losses when filing taxes?

Crypto losses as a result of hacks and theft can be claimed every bit $0 proceeds transactions on Form 8949. This implies that if you lot paid $15,000 for ane ETH and information technology was taken as a outcome of an commutation breach, y’all might merits a loss of $xv,000.

How To Set up For Crypto Revenue enhancement Season

We at present know the basics of crypto taxes, their calculations, and the diverse taxable vs. not-taxable events. Information technology’s fourth dimension to move on to one of the nigh important sections of the tax guide—How all-time to ready for crypto tax season?

Go along Records

All crypto activities such equally airdrops, earning interest equally other crypto events mentioned above are considered taxable events nether capital letter gains or income taxation events; and co-ordinate to the Internal Acquirement Service, “you must go on a record of all your crypto purchases and sales.”

The well-nigh pop crypto exchanges and software take a born characteristic of reporting tools that can automatically assistance you create crypto transaction reports.

Gather Your Information (Grade 1099-M & Form 1099-B)

The Grade 1099-M and other related 1099 forms of the Internal Revenue Service are provided by most of the crypto exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase, etc. All the 1099 forms serve the aforementioned purpose, which is to report non-employment income to the Internal Revenue Service.

Apart from the 1099s, at that place are many other crypto revenue enhancement forms that you will need to file equally per your requirement and the crypto activities that you lot have undergone.

Calculate Gains And Losses With Crypto Tax Software

The easiest way to calculate your capital gains and losses is using crypto taxation software. Crypto tax software is integrated with major crypto exchanges, blockchains, and wallets, and can aid you lot with reporting and filing your crypto taxes.

At ZenLedger, you lot tin can use our crypto tax calculation software to simplify tax reporting and fiscal analysis in compliance with the IRS and the SEC rules and regulations.

Reporting Cryptocurrency On Your Taxes

Let’s get to the final step of understanding Usa crypto taxes past learning how to report cryptocurrency taxes.

It is easy to get confused as to which IRS taxation form is required for what purpose. Every bit we already know crypto investing leads to the generation of capital gains taxes, and activities like mining, staking, and rewards collection volition lead to income taxes.

Near important tax forms in the United States:

Other Forms Issued by the Exchanges

A crypto exchange could issue Forms such every bit 1099-B, 1099-MISC, and 1099-Chiliad.

1099-B

Forms 1099-B report cost basis when available. It is used to report capital letter gains and losses incurred by the taxpayer after selling certain avails via exchanges and barter exchanges. The IRS and the investor both receive a re-create of this grade for crypto transactions from the crypto commutation.

1099-MISC

This form covers a broad range of payments such as referral bonuses, crypto earnings, and other incomes. If you’ve earned more than than $600 in crypto or bonuses this yr, this form will be sent to y’all by your crypto exchange that issued the payments.

1099-K

Some crypto exchanges issue Grade 1099-Thou. This form sums up the number of electronic payments a taxpayer has received throughout the year fabricated by credit carte du jour, debit menu, or online payments arrangement such as PayPal.

The Form 1009-Grand is for taxpayers that have payments via electronic ways instead of people who sell their backdrop such equally crypto tokens.

When some exchanges issue Forms 1099-K, they merely include the total value exchanges and non the proper adjustments for toll footing. For case, if an investor bought Bitcoin for $100,000 and sold it for $90,000, the taxpayer and the IRS volition receive Form 1009-Thousand with $90,000 every bit income received.

Due to this miscalculation, many exchanges take stopped issuing this form and many accept exchanged this form for 1099-B considering it is an accurate tax form and provides the user experience, and eliminates the possibility of an IRS audit.

The Financial Takeaway

The IRS published guidelines on cryptocurrencies back in 2014 and hasn’t updated them much since so. Still, it pretty much summed up for many crypto investors. If y’all earned a profit from trading it or using it, you lot take to pay taxes. If you accustomed it every bit a payment or earned income from information technology, you have to pay taxes. Even though it sounds easy, the crypto tax space is pretty complex and we promise our crypto tax guide has helped.

ZenLedger easily calculates your crypto taxes and as well finds opportunities for you to save money and merchandise smarter with our portfolio tracker.

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Disclaimer:
This textile has been prepared for advisory purposes only, and is not intended to provide revenue enhancement, legal or financial advice. You should consult your own revenue enhancement, legal and accounting advisors earlier engaging in whatever transaction.