How do cryptocurrency taxes work?
Crypto is taxed in the same way as Gold and real estate. When you sell or trade crypto you have to pay tax on the difference between the selling price and the price you bought it for (minus any exchange fees). This is known as a Capital Gains Tax and has to be paid in most countries such as the USA, UK, Canada etc.
I only made a loss on cryptocurrencies, do I still have to file taxes?
Yes. It doesn't matter if you only made losses, you still have to report it to your tax agency. In fact, it is in your best interests to report your losses as this is one of the best ways to reduce your crypto taxes in the future!
Are crypto to crypto trades taxed?
Yes. Any exchange of cryptocurrencies is also a taxable event. For ex. if you exchange Bitcoin for Ripple, the IRS and other tax agencies will treat this as a sale of Bitcoin at the market price of the XRP you received.
How are Mining, Staking & Hard Forks taxed?
The same way as regular income. For ex. if you receive 10 BCH as a result of the Bitcoin Cash fork then you will need to declare this as additional income, using the fair market value of the BCH at the time you received it.
How can I avoid paying tax on my Bitcoin trades?
It's actually very difficult to avoid crypto taxes. Every time you transfer funds to an exchange you are leaving a papertrail that tax agencies can catch on to. In the past, exchanges like Coinbase and eToro have handed over data on thousands of users to tax authorities.
Do I have to pay tax if I transfer crypto from one wallet to another?
No, you don't. As long as you own both wallets there's no tax to pay on transfers. However, you still have to keep track of the original cost of the transferred coins and have sufficient proof of it.
How can Koinly help?
Koinly automatically imports your transactions, finds all the market prices at the time of your trades, matches transfers between your own wallets, calculates your crypto gains/losses and generates your tax reports!