- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 13,000
A California federal court has ordered the popular cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service Coinbase to turn over records on thousands of customers to the Internal Revenue Service. The requested records include the name, birthdate, address, and account activity for any user who bought, sold, sent, or received more than $20,000 worth of Bitcoin in their accounts between 2013 and 2015.
The court order is a reaction by the IRS to possible tax avoidance on cryptocurrency gains. Arguably, though, tax law simply hasn’t caught up with cryptocurrency, and the order effectively places over 14,000 Coinbase users under investigation simply for using a new technology. US legislators introduced a bill in September that would exempt any cryptocurrency transaction under $600 from taxation.
The court order is a reaction by the IRS to possible tax avoidance on cryptocurrency gains. Arguably, though, tax law simply hasn’t caught up with cryptocurrency, and the order effectively places over 14,000 Coinbase users under investigation simply for using a new technology. US legislators introduced a bill in September that would exempt any cryptocurrency transaction under $600 from taxation.