I have a crypto wallet. I have about 21 trades, all short term and all BTC (bitcoin). Is there a way to just say VARIOUS, enter total COST/SALES/GAIN OR LOSS. These are small amounts, maybe $100 total gain/loss.
Unsure of where I put this information
Mel
Yes, you can report your cryptocurrency trades as "various" on your tax return, and enter the total cost, sales, and gain or loss for all of your trades. You will need to report these trades on Schedule D (Form 1040), which is used to report capital gains and losses. If you have a net capital loss from your cryptocurrency trades, you can use it to offset any capital gains you may have from other investments. If your net loss exceeds your capital gains, you can use up to $3,000 of the loss to offset other income and carry forward any excess loss to future years.
It's important to keep accurate records of your trades, including the date of purchase, the date of sale, the cost basis, the sales proceeds, and any associated fees. This will help you to accurately calculate your gain or loss for each trade.
You will also need to report the fair market value of the bitcoin on the day you received it as income, if you received it as payment for goods or services.
It's also worth noting that even though the total gain/loss is small, you are still required to report it on your taxes. The IRS views cryptocurrency as property for tax purposes, so you'll need to report trades and transactions on your tax return.
Yes, but not the way you want to do it. If you can create a spreadsheet with the trade information in the same format as Form 8949, you can attach it to your return and enter the summary informatino on one line. See Exception 2 on page 4 of the instructions for Form 8949.
Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ
Stu:
Thanks. Here's what I did--not sure if this does it. I use TT to do my taxes.I entered all the transactions in Quicken. I then imported that information into TT (I think it comes from a .txf file. The seemed to import into an 8949. Would this work? What bugs me is: this is like buying/selling stocks but I thought BTC is treated differently (like property, but same result at least for short term)
Mel
It is treated like property, not stocks. However, the difference between the two is that crypto is not subject to wash sale rules. Otherwise, reporting is the same. You generally report crypto transactions on Form 8949. (There are some exceptions.)
Ira Smilovitz, EA Leonia, NJ
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