IRS Approaches Contractors to Audit Crypto Tax Returns

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is looking to hire third-party contractors to help it streamline the efforts in taxing the crypto earnings in the United States.

According to an email received by CryptoTrader.Tax, a platform facilitating crypto tax calculation, the tax authority is looking for outside services for “calculating taxpayers’ gains or losses as a result of their transactions involving virtual currency.”

“We are placing a few single-case contracts as pilots with a goal of publishing a solicitation and request for proposal for a larger multi-case contract. Attached is a sample Statement of Work describing the types of services we are looking for. I wanted to make you aware of our efforts in case your company has any interest in pursuing this type of work,” the email stated.

Crytpo taxation is a priority

The contractor would be primarily responsible to process crypto transaction-related data obtained from on-chain and off-chain sources, APIs, tax submissions, and many other sources, and determining the gains and losses of the taxpayers.

The IRS also acknowledged the burden of such calculations as each taxpayer could have “hundreds of thousands of digital asset transactions” per year on different Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term and wallet platforms.

“These transactions need to be aggregated, and the assets involved need to be valued, as part of the process of computing gains and losses,” the email added. “Additionally, specialized technology and infrastructure is required to digest, contain, and analyze virtual currency data due to unique requirements such as but not limited to decimal place precision, varying field formats, and file formats.”

Notably, CryptoTrader.Tax has rejected the offer, but, according to Coindesk, at least one more company has received the same email, signed by John Cardone, an IRS assistant deputy commissioner.

Properly taxing cryptocurrency earnings have become a priority and also a topic of debate not only in the US but across the world.

Last March, the US tax agency also discussed crypto tax provisions with multiple crypto companies and advocates.