How To Calculate Crypto Tax

Cryptocurrency traders face various tax issues when deciding how to calculate their taxes. To file your tax return, you need to know how to calculate your cryptocurrency investments' capital gains and losses. If you sell your cryptos for a profit within a year, you should report a short-term gain to the IRS. Short-term gains are taxed at the same rate as income. However, you should note that a short-term gain can be an asset you spend and still own.

To calculate the capital gain, you must know the cost basis of your cryptocurrency. The cost basis is the total price you paid for it when you acquired it. The sales price and proceeds, when used, are your cost basis. The difference between the cost basis and the capital gain is the amount of tax you pay. Suppose you're a newcomer to crypto investing. In that case, you should familiarize yourself with capital gain and loss taxation principles.

This article aims to help you make the most informed decision possible. We hope these tips will make your decision easier. If you have any questions about your cryptocurrency tax liability, you can take the guide from this post.

Calculate crypto tax

However, in most cases, the amount you have to pay depends on how long you hold your crypto. Long-term capital gains are recognized when you hold your crypto for one year or more. In this case, you'll pay 0%, 15%, or 20% of the gain on your capital gain. Short-term capital gains are recognized when you hold the crypto for less than one year.

For example, if you held one BTC for a year, your capital gain will be $30,000. In contrast, if you held it for less than one year, your gain will be $32,000. You'll pay tax on the first $30,000 and the second $24,000 of your capital gains. However, if you bought a BTC at an introductory $2.50, you'll pay no tax.

In the context of cryptocurrencies, capital gains tax is a type of tax that applies to the realized change in the value of your cryptocurrency. In other words, it's the tax you owe on the amount of profit you made when you sold your cryptocurrency. However, you don't have a capital loss or gain in crypto until you sell it. In this case, the capital loss is greater than the capital gain because the amount you lost was greater than your cost basis.

The tax treatment of cryptocurrency is similar to that of stocks and property. The tax rate you pay on capital gains depends on how you acquire the cryptocurrency. Generally, the capital gains you earn from cryptocurrency transactions are long-term or short-term.

Short-term gains are those made when you hold the cryptocurrency for less than a year. Long-term gains are those made after a year. If you hold the cryptocurrency for more than a year, you will owe long-term capital gains tax.

HIFO accounting method

The HIFO accounting method is used to calculate crypto tax. It requires granular details of every transaction, including when a coin was bought, sold, and its market value. As with any accounting method, this one requires thorough bookkeeping. Without these records, it cannot support calculations to the IRS. The HIFO accounting method can help investors who have suffered recent losses recoup some of their losses.

In the case of a single coin, the HIFO method uses the highest basis in the first transaction. If a user purchased three BTC in December 2018, they would gain $17,500. This amount would be $19,000 under the HIFO method. If a user purchased a BTC at $900 on an exchange in December 2019, they could assign the cost basis of the first transaction to the second. Thus, under the HIFO method, they will incur a tax bill of $2,000 less since they bought the coins on the exchange on December 5, 2018.

Final Words

Using the cost basis method to calculate crypto tax is the easiest and most common way to report your gains and losses on cryptocurrency sales. This method determines the total cost of an asset. It is calculated by taking the total purchase price of the assets and dividing it by the number of coins held.