Cryptocurrency Tax Software To Keep the IRS From Your Door

If you’ve traded cryptocurrency, chances are that you’ve lost a fair amount of hair–not to mention sleep–trying to calculate your obligations. Some hodlers only need to report a few trades per year, but if you’re moving large amounts of cryptocurrency, it might take some professional-level software to keep track of all those gainz.

The cryptocurrency tax software solutions on the market today come in different flavors, depending on your needs. Some are pure tax reporting tools, whereas others offer accounting services or portfolio tracking. Some also provide additional features such as support for small businesses or individuals who earn a living from trading.

When choosing a provider, some things to consider are:

Transaction Volume and Portfolio Value

If you’re making less than around 1,000 transactions annually, you can opt for one of the lower cost plans. The same applies for portfolio value – the higher the value of your portfolio, the more you’ll pay.

Included Exchanges and Wallets

Lower-cost plans tend to offer integration with fewer exchanges and wallets. If you’ve been transacting over multiple exchanges and wallets, you’ll need to go for a higher cost plan. Furthermore, not all exchanges and wallets are integrated by all providers.

Ease of Input

Some providers will allow you to connect to the exchange or wallet API, whereas others will require you to extract a CSV file for upload to the cryptocurrency tax software.

Service Level

The most basic plans will simply produce the necessary IRS-compatible reports. Some of the more comprehensive offerings will track your asset portfolio, or offer enterprise-grade support for businesses accepting or making payments in cryptocurrencies.

Finding Cryptocurrency Software

With all this in mind, which providers offer the best package to suit your needs? This list covers a number of the major providers but isn’t intended to be exhaustive:

BearTax

BearTax is a simple and inexpensive cryptocurrency tax software, ideal for newcomers or the most casual investors. It offers a basic plan for only $0.99 which provides a tax report covering up to 20 transactions across any number of exchanges. Even the next plan, for up to 200 transactions, is only $29.99.

The software connects via API to a broad range of exchanges. It doesn’t calculate taxes for margin or derivative trading, and it doesn’t offer any portfolio tracking, so it may not be suitable for more  frequent or advanced traders.

TokenTax

TokenTax is a decent all-rounder but the most basic plan at $65 per year only integrates with Coinbase and Binance. For power traders taking the highest package, it also offers services including assistance with IRS audits.

Unlike many other cryptocurrency tax software providers, TokenTax offers a premium service that can produce a full tax filing, including your crypto taxes. It also offers a planning service to help tax-optimize your portfolio, and can handle calculations on derivatives trades. Furthermore, TokenTax offers support if you’re an employee earning in crypto, or for special situation such as if you’ve been the victim of a hack.

ZenLedger

ZenLedger also offers additional features beyond pure tax reporting, such as support for ICOs and airdrops. However, it comes at an even higher price point – the starter package is $149 per year for up to 500 transactions with up to $50k asset value. Unlike many others on this list, features on ZenLedger are standard across all packages, so you’ll only pay more for a bigger portfolio value and/or transaction volume.

CoinTracker

Cointracker isn’t just a tax reporting solution.  It actively tracks your entire digital asset portfolio. This is likely to be very helpful if you’ve diversified across many wallets and exchanges, as it means you don’t need to collect all of your holdings into one place come tax season.

Prices start from $49 for up to 100 transactions annually and go up to $999 for 15,000 transactions. In contrast with many other cryptocurrency tax software providers, Cointracker is international, offering reporting for UK, Canada, and Australia.

Bittax

Bittax is the only cryptocurrency tax software we’ve seen that’s based on blockchain technology. According to the website, it can trace an entire history of user cryptocurrency transactions from the moment the trader entered the markets, and even flag where transaction history appears to be incomplete.

Forward tax planning enables you to optimize your positions for maximum potential savings. There’s no pricing currently available on the website, but you can submit a request via their contact form for a free estimate of your tax obligations. This may be useful if you’ve received an IRS letter but believe you’ve paid your taxes correctly.

CryptoTrader.Tax

CryptoTrader.Tax provides many similar features as others mentioned on this list. The company emphasizes a user-experience first approach and uses an intuitive 5-step process for completing a tax report.

CryptoTrader.Tax supports more than 25 of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges and has partnered up with TurboTax to allow their users to import their cryptocurrency tax data into the TurboTax platform. Prices start at $49 and increase depending on the volume of trades you made during any given year.

Users can sign up and import all their data for free. Payment is only required once you want to download your tax report. David Kemmerer, the co-founder of the company, has also contributed some interesting articles on crypto taxes to Crypto Briefing.

Node40

Node40 started life as a service offering master node hosting but once they started accepting payment in cryptos, the founders realized they had no software to easily calculate their crypto tax obligations, so they designed their own.

Now, Node40 offers perhaps one of the best plans for new or novice traders using a single exchange or wallet, as you can import up to 1500 transactions completely free of charge. The next level up starts from $75. The company also offers a package for tax professionals. Given that many tax accountants still aren’t familiar with the tax rules on crypto assets, this service is useful for helping to bridge the gap between the existing tax world and crypto-assets.

HappyTax

HappyTax is providing a similar service. The company also operates Cryptotaxacademy to educate tax professionals in the game. It isn’t a software provider but a full-service crypto tax preparation company. This may be a preferable option for those with more complex portfolios, as it allows you to be completely hands-off. The company can support crypto taxes as a standalone offering or as part of a full tax return service, which covers your other obligations as well.

 

If you’ve been unlucky enough to receive one of the recent IRS letters, then any of these services will also help you in retroactively calculating your tax obligations for previous years. Although it’s true that the IRS has created a cloud of uncertainty through a lack of clear guidance around the taxation of digital assets, using a cryptocurrency tax software solution can at least take some of the reporting burden off your shoulders.

 

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