Coinbase to Customers: Don’t Forget to Pay Taxes on Bitcoin Gains

Exchange and wallet service provider Coinbase appears to be taking early steps to remind customers about their upcoming tax obligations.

With the U.S. tax year having ended on Dec. 31, the company’s users are now faced with a banner placed at the top of their dashboard, stating “Please remember to pay your taxes,” and linking to the website’s newly updated tax FAQ page.

The FAQ points out that Coinbase “cannot provide legal or tax advice,” but links to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines on how to report and pay taxes relating to crypto trading. A similar banner is also now visible for users in the EU as well.

It also adds that users can refer to their account transaction histories in order to calculate their gains and losses. Coinbase further offers a Cost Basis for Taxes report (currently in beta) to assist with the process, the FAQ states.

Notably, the move to raise awareness of users’ tax liabilities comes soon after Coinbase concluded a lengthy court battle with the IRS over the tax agency’s request that the firm hand over records on thousands of customers.

The San-Francisco district court ruled in late November that Coinbase must hand over user accounts at the exchange that bought, sold, sent or received sums of $20,000 and higher between 2013 and 2015.

The dispute over user records had been ongoing since November 2016, when the IRS had originally requested 480,000 customer accounts – a number that was slashed to over 14,000 in the final ruling, prompting Coinbase to claim the case a “partial victory.”

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase.

Brian Armstrong image via CoinDesk Consensus archives