Using Cryptocurrency in Your Cannabis Business: Possible Solution to a Serious Banking Problem

Despite the increase in the number of states that have been legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use, many banks are still reluctant to assist marijuana growers, manufacturers, and retailers. Cannabis cryptocurrency provides a promising alternative. This past June, the House Appropriations Committee rejected a measure that would have...

New Global Partnership Formed to Combat International Tax Crime

Law enforcement leaders from five countries have joined efforts in their fight against international tax crime and money laundering. The new “Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement” (J5) brings together tax enforcement authorities from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. to develop new strategies in the pursuit...

Government Regulation of Cryptocurrency

Governments throughout the world have begun developing regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges. In this post, we will provide an overview of how various U.S. government agencies view cryptocurrencies and what they are doing to prevent their misuse. The Internal Revenue Service Digital currency = property In 2014, the IRS issued Notice...

Cryptocurrency Holders: Avoid a Tax Audit!

The recent Coinbase, Inc. case marks the beginning of a new phase in IRS investigations, and U.S. taxpayers should beware that our government is unlikely to relinquish its pursuit of digital currency holders. This won't show. The IRS’s success in identifying and pursuing people with foreign accounts has forever changed...

IRS Focus: Tracking Cryptocurrency

In our recent blogs on the new Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Division (IRS-CI) priorities, we noted that new IRS-CI director John D. Fort has placed his department on high alert for tax fraud involving bitcoin and other digital currencies. Here, we discuss U.S. taxpayer noncompliance and various cryptocurrency tax...

2018 Priorities of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI):
Part II, Two New Initiatives for Identification and Investigation of Tax Crimes

This is a continuation of the first post on the 2018 IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Despite the reduction in its budget, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) has begun to implement two new initiatives that hope to improve the department’s already impressive success rate. Last year, the IRC-CI made 2,251...

2018 Priorities of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI):
Part I, Types of Cases

Following his appointment as new Chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI), John D. Fort announced the 2018 priority areas for IRS-CI enforcement. These goals include pursuit of specific areas of suspected taxpayer noncompliance as well as the implementation of new techniques for identification and investigation. In this post,...

Coinbase Accountholders Notified

We recently blogged about a federal court judge ordering Coinbase to release information about certain Coinbase accountholders. On February 23, 2018, Coinbase sent messages to approximately 13,000 of its customers, informing them that information regarding their accounts will be provided to the IRS for tax information purposes in accordance with the...

Court Rules that Coinbase Accounts Must Be Reported to the IRS

Last year the IRS issued a “John Doe” summons on all U.S. Coinbase customers who had used convertible virtual currency between 2013 and 2015. Coinbase’s challenge to the summons has failed in part and succeeded in part – a federal court judge recently ordered Coinbase to release information about Coinbase...