U.S. Infrastructure Bill and Crypto Taxes

Full article found here by Sandali Handagama

Key Points:

• Tax lawyers are awaiting guidance from the Federal Treasury Department regarding proposed crypto reporting provisions.

• In August the crypto industry rallied together in an effort to amend a provision in the bill that appeared to broaden the definition of “broker” to include not only crypto exchanges but also miners, node validators, developers, and other entities within the space that do not facilitate transactions for customers.

• Erin Fennimore, global head of information reporting at crypto tax software TaxBit, and Joe Guagliardo, technology and blockchain partner at Troutman Pepper, both agree that NFTs and decentralized finance would both fall under the “broker” category in the current version of the bill.

• Legal experts warn that if implemented as is, persons/groups who are not in a position to have the same information a traditional broker will not be able to comply with the required reporting.

• Bipartisan calls to amend the bill have fallen flat so far as it has passed the Senate in its original form on August 11th. The House of Representatives is now set to vote on the unamended bill on September 27th.

• The provision is expected to help raise $28 billion within 10 years in an effort by the IRS to raise revenue and combat tax evasion.