The IRS is About to Go Public with Many Criminal Crypto Cases

According to a Bloomberg news update, the head of the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division, Jim Lee, announced yesterday that the IRS is building “hundreds” of criminal digital asset cases.  The IRS is about to make many of them public. These statements were made in connection with the release of the IRS Criminal Investigation division’s annual report (link).

The IRS indicated that some of the cases involve areas like “off-ramping” transactions, where digital assets are exchanged for fiat currency (e.g., U.S. Dollars, Euros, British Pounds, etc.) and people being paid in crypto and not reporting those transactions to the IRS. The IRS indicated that its recently-created Office of Cyber and Forensic Services was capable of tracing essentially any crypto transaction.

The IRS announced that in the most recent fiscal year, the IRS seized about $7 billion of cryptocurrency, which is double the previous year’s total.

If taxpayers have any concerns regarding prior year tax issues involving digital assets (or any other tax matter), they should speak with a qualified tax attorney sooner rather than later.

If you have any questions about this article or any other tax matter, please contact me at jglassman@meadowscollier.com or 214-749-2417.