US Tax Reform Bill, a Bad News For Cryptocurrency Traders

Updated On Dec 27, 2017 by Cameron Bishop

US Tax Reform Bill, a Bad News For Cryptocurrency TradersLast Friday, the US President Donald Trump signed the tax reform bill. While economists continue to argue about the possible impact of the new tax code on the economy, one thing is certain: the first major tax overhaul in over three decades is bad news for crypto currency investors. Beginning 2018, all cyptocurrency transactions are taxable, including the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another.

In the previous tax code, there was a tax exemption for “like kind exchanges.” That means, investors can exchange similar assets without any tax obligation. Until now, the so-called “1031 exchanges” were used by traders to exchange assets such as art or real estate, without paying taxes.

The IRS has been treating Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as property for tax purposes, since 2014. Thus, it is necessary to pay capital gains tax when the crypto currency is exchanged for the US dollar or some other fiat currency. If the crypto token is held for less than a year, then it was subject to regular income tax rate of between 10% and 37%, depending on income levels. Crypto currencies held for more than one year are subject to a maximum capital gains tax of 24%.

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Under the new tax code, which included an amendment to IRC Section 1031 (a)(1) regarding “like kind exchanges,” the exemption will cover only real estate swaps. The word “property” has been replaced by “real property”, limiting transactions to real estate sector. Thus, from 2018 onwards, all crypto currency transactions will be taxed at the time of execution.

Previously, traders used to swap crypto currencies to defer their tax obligation for short-term capital gains. Even that is no longer possible without paying tax. The tax authorities plugged the loophole after they discovered that only 1,000 people paid taxes on their Bitcoin transactions between 2013 and 2015. That prompted a lawsuit against Coinbase, demanding the details of all user transactions in those two years.

It would be interesting to watch how may US citizens disclose their Bitcoin profits this year, considering the meteoric $19,000 gain in the past 12-months.

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Cameron works tirelessly behind the scenes ensuring his many US news stories are factual, informative and brought to you in a timely fashion before most other media outlets have them. He is an investigative journalist at heart who also has a fond interest in the money and business markets too.

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Freddy Frederickson
Freddy Frederickson
6 years ago
Reply to  Derrick Melton

Why not? If the government is just going to foolishly waste my money on their own stupid pet-projects, why should we be giving them ANY money?

Derrick Melton
Derrick Melton
6 years ago

Why though? Long term holdings already get preferential tax rates via capital gains tax rates…so if your income bracket is low enough, you don’t even pay taxes on capital gains as it is.

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Derrick Melton

Lmao, if they actually believe this will work they are insane. It’s called “crypto” for a reason. Dumb asses.

Freddy Frederickson
Freddy Frederickson
6 years ago
Reply to  Derrick Melton

Good point, we should eliminate those unnecessary taxes on securites and forex as well.

Derrick Melton
Derrick Melton
6 years ago

Lmao, it now follows the same laws that all securities have to follow, as well as forex traders…and it also means that you can claim losses incurred by trading a crypto pair like BTC/LTD etc where before it was a like kind exchange and couldn’t be used to deduct losses. This is about the only good long term thing to come from this tax reform measure since it closes an extremely viable way to evade taxes that needed to be addressed before cryptocurrencies can start being treated as a currency rather than a security.

Freddy Frederickson
Freddy Frederickson
6 years ago

How dare people use currency that isn’t being continuously devalued by inflation, and thus artificially pushing people into a higher tax bracket. Quick, kill it with ridiculous over-taxation.

The more I learn about government waste and corruption, the more thoroughly I am convinced that taxation is theft at gun point.