Miners who have been cashing out coins for USD and live in the US would be advised to file Schedule C to report the income, as well as the expenses. Turbo Tax Basic does not include Schedule C.
For those preparing your taxes, good two things to look out for:
Section 179 Deduction to fully expense the cost of hardware purchased if it was used 100% for business [mining].
Utilities expense. Good way to legitimize your deduction is to take your full utility bill from last year and subtract it from your utility bill this year, the difference being a close approximation of your mining utilities expense [assuming no major lifestyle/housing changes].
What about those who don't cash out BTC -> USD ? Call me a hoarder. There are still expenses though, obviously.
Electricity costs could be easily calculated with a Kill-a-Watt, alternatively also right ? I guess this would only be a viable option if no hardware changes were made throughout the year and equipment ran 99.99%. Although, the differences between the years may be a good starting point.
Becoming incorporated and making it a business expense may not be a bad idea. I'm also curious at what amount of expense I need to be at, before being able to file for those expenses. Seeing as how I don't cash out BTC, there would be no income, technically, only expenses in the business...this may come off as suspicious I would think.
Looks like more research is to be done...
