Crypto in Canada and US Tax Tools
Written 7th March, 2019
Canada
Similar to the growing trend of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States (US) targeting crypto users in the past, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is also now performing audits on users of crypto. Those who will be audited will also receive a questionnaire that is reportedly 13 pages long and 54 questions, not to mention the sub questions also included. They also provide guidance on the treatment of digital currency through their website, and gave a statement committing themselves to ensuring that all “abide by the same tax laws”.
US Tax Tools
Ernst & Young LLP (EY) recently announced the launch of their Crypto-Asset Accounting and Tax (CAAT) Tool. This new tool will “facilitate accounting and tax calculations for cryptocurrency transactions” and is intended for both individuals who own and trade crypto as well as institutions. The institutions who either participate in crypto related activity or use crypto in their transactions and thus have them on their balance sheets may find the EY CAAT Tool to be useful. This isn’t the first crypto tax tool to be announced. See below for the other crypto tax calculators.
TurboTax has created a new crypto tax section in its TurboTax Premier product and is joining with Coinbase to provide discounts on its services for all Coinbase users. Coinbase has also integrated with CoinTracker, which will allow its users to more easily summarize their transaction activity. CoinTracker is also partnered with TurboTax to make it easier to upload said transaction activity, making this trifecta of services a more straightforward measure to report gains/losses in crypto.
Other Crypto Tax Calculators
There are other useful crypto tax calculators for individuals available aside from TurboTax. Bitcoin Taxes, for example, was one of the first and seems to be the most popular for crypto holders. This service also provides information for other countries aside from the US as well (UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Canada). There are other crypto tax calculators available, but for a US citizen, the TurboTax route might be the most useful and easy as they will help with tax queries outside of crypto as well – a one-stop-shop.
