The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States has sent a letter to thousands of people it believes may have not properly reported their cryptocurrency taxes. In latest bitcoin news today, we see how the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reacted to the agency’s renewed focus on crypto holders several months after debacle an episode with Coinbase.
IRS Threatens Crypto Tax Defaulters in New Letter – Bitcoin News Today – BTC Price
In a letter titled IRS Letter 6174-A, the IRS notified at least 10,000 people that they could face penalties if they did not properly report their taxes from cryptocurrency and other virtual currencies. The letter send to several people via email read in parts:
“If you do not accurately report your virtual currency transactions, you may be subject to future civil and criminal enforcement activity.”
The agency suggested that the recipients may have properly reported their crypto taxes and as such needed to file for an amendment and pay back taxes.
Cryptocurrency tax expert Tyson Cros called for calm among recipients of the IRS letter suggesting that it may just be a blanket email or sent to users of Coinbase exchange which the agency had earlier targeted in the crypto tax-related subpoena.
That said, the IRS seems to be blowing hot over the matter. In a press release confirming the letters, the IRS commissioner Charles Rettig said that “Taxpayers should take these letters very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate.” The agency explained that it obtained the names of the letter recipients through its compliance efforts.
This recent campaign by the IRS is one a number of efforts targeting the cryptocurrency community and it comes at a time the United States (and the world as a whole) grappling with the possibility of a Facebook’s virtual currency which will be open to its user base of over 2 billion people. Last year, cryptocurrency holders were thrown into confusion just before the tax period because of the difficulty in calculating their bitcoin taxes.
Though the IRS released its guidelines for reporting cryptocurrency taxes, it did not reflect the new realities of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. This concern was voiced by members of the US House of Representatives in a letter to the agency last year.
Bitcoin Price Today – BTC to USD
Bitcoin (BTC) Price is at $9,567.4 to the US Dollar at the time of writing. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency is down about 3 percent down from yesterday as it slides further below the $10,000 mark.
Bitcoin Price Prediction – BTC Price Forecast
With a threat of total bitcoin ban in India and now a warning from the IRS, bitcoin analysts are warning of a possible dip in BTC price to as low as below $7,000. However, bitcoin investors remain bullish about bitcoin in the long term; the likes of Pantera Capital and Mike Novogratz reportedly dishing BTC price prediction upwards of $300,000 in the coming years.
Riccardo Lopp is a writer specializing in Crypto, ethereum and whole blockchain ecosystem. His background is in economics and statistics.