U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service Publish New Proposed Crypto Tax Regulations

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are jointly proposing new tax regulations for the digital assets industry.

In a new publication, the Treasury and the IRS are proposing that payment platforms, wallet providers and trading firms that deal with crypto assets file tax returns on certain sales or exchange transactions.

The proposal also asks real estate brokers to file tax information on virtual currencies received during transactions.

“Based on existing authority as well as changes to the applicable tax law made by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, these proposed regulations would require brokers, including digital asset trading platforms, digital asset payment processors, and certain digital asset hosted wallets, to file information returns, and furnish payee statements, on dispositions of digital assets affected for customers in certain sale or exchange transactions.

These proposed regulations would also require real estate reporting persons, who are treated as brokers with respect to reportable real estate transactions, to include on filed information returns and furnished payee statements the fair market value of digital asset consideration received by real estate sellers in reportable real estate transactions.”

According to a press release by the Treasury Department, the proposed rules, if enacted, would apply to sales and exchanges of crypto assets in 2025 and are estimated to generate about $28 billion worth of revenue for the federal government over a 10-year period.

The proposed rules were met with criticism by Republican Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. According to McHenry, the proposal is just another way for the Biden Administration to crack down on the crypto industry.

“The Biden Administration must end its effort to kill the digital asset ecosystem in the US and work with Congress to finally deliver clear rules of the road for this industry.

I look forward to advancing my bipartisan solution – the Keep Innovation in America Act – to fix these misguided reporting requirements, protect the privacy of market participants, and ensure the digital asset ecosystem can flourish here in the US.”

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