Bitcoin Forum

I live in the US do you get taxed on gain if you buy and sell and make a profit on bitcoin? thanks

Yes.

You are required by law to report ALL income to the IRS, regardless of the source, and then to pay the appropriate taxes on that income after taking whatever deductions and credits you are entitled to.

Thanks, I wasnt sure if they would send you a 1099 or you just claim it,,, thanks.

yeah IRS make law about it, but if you dont want goverment to know just dont repport it, and maybe end up in jail  :-X

It takes time for people to adapt, and that is one reason compliance may be poor so far.

There are governments requiring that you inform the number of Bitcoin you have and taxe you for that and the profit you make with them. Whatever you earn with Bitcoin, or other currencies as we'll, is income that you'll have to pay taxes for.

That's the stupidity of the US law. Some guy mined Bitcoins and didn't want to tell the government that he did. Let's put him in jail with all the real criminals so he can get raped, beaten and whatever and let's take his coins because we can. This is modern day slavery. Whatever my government does I'm never going to report my coins.

Yes. That's why it sucks. Even though you got it from you working hard, you need to tell all that stuffs to the government. It sucks but we really have to. We should pay % of the income we get to the government for their campaigns and projects but only wasted by corrupt officials.

Now most states are considering the nature of the crypto currency and its regulation in the country. Simultaneously, the states, as a rule, impose a profit tax on operations with crypto currency. The USA is not excluded. However, I read that in the US taxation is subject to profits from operations with a crypto currency in excess of $ 600. Therefore, before deciding how to deal with the issue of paying taxes, it is necessary to learn the legislation on taxation.

No one in the bitcoin community is going to send you a 1099 that summarizes your gains/losses throughout the year. Coinbase could offer this service, but to my knowledge, they don't.

And if you're using a trezor or some non-exchange wallet, there's no infrastructure to track your activity for you.

This is something you need to track yourself and then report and own up to at the end of the year.

The IRS treats bitcoin as an asset (so think house, stock, property).

There is a bill in congress to try to create a law that allows that exemption.  It has not passed yet.  Until/unless that bill becomes a law, you will owe taxes on ALL amounts (even $0.07).


I'm not aware of ANY bitcoin services that are sending 1099 for bitcoin transactions.  However, the IRS is demanding a list of ALL accounts and ALL transactions from Coinbase.com.  If the IRS gets what they are requesting, then they will know about transactions to, from, and within Coinbase.com.  From that data, they may be able to track transactions between businesses or users that use the Coinbase.com service AND other businesses and users.

While you might be able to get away with breaking the law and not reporting your income, you will be taking a big risk.  The penalty of getting caught is much worse than the cost of following the law. If you don't like the law, the legal options are:  emigrate to another country that has laws that you like, or elect representatives that will change the laws to laws that you like.

yeah that what i do too, just weird i guess. but thats the law. what can we do as normal civilians

I am hoping that when I do sell in the far future (5 years) that coinbase will send me a 1099 so I dont have to do all the work!!!

Absolutely, but there is a caveat with cryptos (bitcoin in this particular instance). bitcoins are subject to regular income tax when they are gained as wages, or spent as wages (bills, food, shit like that). but if bitcoin is only held as a speculative asset, then they will be taxed when sold, according to capital gains tax. if you are a miner it is a bit of both; if you plan to spend the mining proceeds as living wages, then you have to report them as wages. if you are mining to sell at a later date (a speculative move, not a house sustaining income generation event) then when you sell, you will be fee'd cap gains tax, according to the gains.

Corrrect.  Wages and capital gains are treated by the IRS as two different forms of income, and are taxed at different rates with different rules about deductions and credits.  However, BOTH wages AND capital gains MUST be reported.  Then you need to follow the appropriate laws on how to calculate the appropriate tax on that income.

HOWEVER, the OP specifically asked about "if you buy and sell and make a profit".  In that case, it should be treated as capital gains income and tax calculations should be handled accordingly. Keep in mind that they may be "long term" or "short term" gains depending on your specific activity, and that if you perform a "wash sale", then you may not be able to deduct losses from other income (and instead would need to adjust the cost basis of the new purchase).

yes, you can paid some tax for the miners because it is the only one that miners get bitcoin.

It is less things that are free in this world.

I think that is not mandatory, because nobody can trace your bitcoin movements
It is only a your choice, the governments have already a lot of money, so i think that we don't need to give more money to them