Coinbase customers who are required to file taxes in the U.S can do it using TurboTax, software developed to file taxes in the states.
Intuit Customer Tax Group, that came up with the software and Coinbase have collaborated to benefit Coinbase and Coinbase Pro clients to pay their taxes. With the help of the software the customers can now directly upload their transactions, profits, and losses of the year 2018 to the TurboTax Premier, one of the tax firm’s products. In the press release, Coinbase on Tuesday mentioned that the software will allow Coinbase customers to upload as many as 100 transactions at a time.
The collaboration will work directly through the retail platform of Coinbase or its Android and iOS apps.
TurboTax Premier will be providing assistance to the customers who need help over filing taxes. For any further assistance, the customers can engage the enrolled agents and certified public accountants at Intuit group.
It was noted by Intuit that not all cryptocurrency transactions are taxable events. That is why at TurboTax Premier, there is ample guidance available to assist customers in selecting only those transactions that are taxable.
It was indicated in particular that converting cryptocurrencies to fiat, selling the same and spending the proceeds to pay for any goods and services, gaining free coins through a fork and airdrop will be constituted as income, and thus customers will be required to report the same.
It was further clarified in the press release that cryptocurrencies purchased and not yet sold, gifted cryptocurrencies (valuing below $15,000 per recipient), cryptocurrencies bought with a self-directed IRA or Solo 401(k) will fall under the non-taxable transactions.
Additionally working with TurboTax and CoinTracker, Coinbase mentioned regarding publishing a “Crypto and Bitcoin Taxes in the U.S.” guide for the year 2018 and launching a tax resource centre to assist its clients to obtain better clarity over any tax obligations they may have.
However, Coinbase also noted that it does not retain an authority to offer tax advice. Thus the customers should consult a tax professional to seek advice regarding their specific situations.
To further aid customers, Coinbase is tying up with CoinTracker, a crypto & Bitcoin tax software manager, put together by former Google employees.
CoinTracker mentioned in own press release that they would provide help to customers accumulating transactions across “all wallets and exchanges” and summing up all the transaction activities for 2018.
Chandan Lodha, the co-founder of CoinTracker said in the statement, “We believe that an open financial system will make this world better.” He further said that a financial system that is too difficult to use or is confined to a few groups has no or limited usability. And therefore their mission is to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies in an easy manner, starting with tackling cryptocurrencies taxes.
CoinTracker mentioned in the release that they support over 2500 cryptocurrencies and have facilitated automation of 20 crypto exchanges with largest volumes. It is also tracking over $200 million worth crypto assets.
Along with CoinTracker, Intuit is also teaming up with many crypto tax startups including BitTaxer, Bitcoin.tax, TokenTax.co, and CryptoTrader.tax to further assist customers who are seeking help with their cryptocurrencies.
Brennan Snow, the co-founder of BitTaxer, told CoinDesk that he hopes that the collaboration will help the people of US to claim losses from their crypto holdings. He noted that $1.7b will be claimed out of $5.1b in BTC losses for Americans, as projected by CreditKarma.
