Beginning 2018, all cyptocurrency transactions are taxable, including the exchange of one cryptocurrency for another. Under the new tax code, which included an amendment to IRC Section 1031 (a)(1) regarding “like kind exchanges,” the exemption will cover only real estate swaps. The word “property” has been replaced by “real property”, limiting transactions to real estate sector. Thus, from 2018 onwards, all crypto currency transactions will be taxed at the time of execution.
Basically, if you own Bitcoin and trade it for Litecoin, then trade Litecoin for Ripple, from there trade Ripple for Bitcoin and then trade/sell Bitcoin for Fiat Currency that is 4 Taxable events. You’re required to properly report and pay any capital gains on all 4 transactions.
This is going to be extremely hard to track, especially if you do hundreds of trades, and use multiple wallets as well as exchanges. I came across a platform that will help anyone stay compliant with the new tax laws even if it is stupid. It will track properly all of your transactions across most exchanges. There is a free version and an upgrade version that is fully automated. The upgrade version allows you to connect to each exchange with API’s and will pull in the data and can be used as a daily tracker as well as tax reporting.
The main difference between the free version and upgrade is:
Free: limited to 200 transactions a month. Manually enter or uploaded CVS files for recording
Upgrade: Use the API feature, connect to each exchange and block change, the system will grab the data every day and provide you a complete overview of all of your coins in addition to generating the proper reports required for tax purposes
CoinTracking analyzes all your trades and generates in real time tons of useful information such as the profit / loss of your trades, the value of your coins, balances, realized and unrealized gains, reports for tax declaration, and much more. With the current and historical prices for all 5113 existing currencies, you will get the complete overview
