IRS brought Al Capone down and tracked down the geek minds behind Silk Road.  That just shows you the might of IRS and how far it can go to trace the tax dollars that are owed.

Only after a few weeks of dishing out the first set of letters, IRS has started issuing 'tax due' notices based on the transactions reported by the Coinbase to the IRS.  The notice offers an option to simply settle the taxes without having to amend the tax returns.  While this may sound like a simple solution, it may not be the best, unless the cost basis reported by Coinbase is accurate and you are ok with it.

One thing is clear from these quick back-to-back action blast from the IRS - new regulations and framework is going to come sooner than later.  This is almost like a cleansing act by the IRS to get things in order as of 2017 so that the new regulations can be enforced with the new tax year for 2019 in 2020.

At CryptoTapas, we warned taxpayers about reporting tax transactions last year.  We even provided guidance on what kind of transactions need to be reported.  

We went a step further with that guide.  We talked about FinCEN Form 114 reporting requirements.  This is something that most people seem to ignore but FinCEN filings are much more serious and may carry a criminal charges for non-disclosure.

You can access the guide here.

We are eagerly looking out for the new guidance from the IRS which we expect to see before the end of this year.