Coinbase: We Will Send Data On 13,000 Users To IRS (arstechnica.com)

Coinbase has formally notified its customers that it will be complying with a court order and handing over the user data for about 13,000 of its customers to the Internal Revenue Service. Ars Technica reports: The case began back in November 2016 when the IRS went to a federal judge in San Francisco to enforce an initial order that would have required the company to hand over the data of all users who transacted on the site between 2013 and 2015 as part of a tax evasion investigation. Coinbase resisted the IRS' request in court. But by November 2017, after a hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley narrowed the request to only cover 13,000 particular individuals. The San Francisco-based startup is now required to provide "taxpayer ID, name, birth date, address, and historical transaction records for certain higher-transacting customers during the 2013-2015 period." Coinbase reminded its users that it is "unable to provide legal or tax advice." The company also noted, "If you have concerns about this, we encourage you to seek legal advice from an attorney promptly. Coinbase expects to produce the information covered by the court's order within 21 days."

Comments

Uh-oh

[DogDude]

Uh-oh. I think that some dumb people are going to be in a lot of trouble.

Re:This may cause the price of it to go up

[aaarrrgggh]

Honest question... are you sure? Normally that kind of transaction (like an option) would just track as basis changes if done properly.

Not a surprise at all

[gweihir]

Banks already have to do this to fight "money laundering" and "financing terrorism" (in actual reality, this is purely about tax evasion...) and companies like Coinbase are in some sense banks. They have no chance to deny such a request and, unless the cryptocurrency in question has strong anonymity (like Monero) and you are always strongly anonymized when accessing it or use your own wallet exclusively, there is no way the feds will not identify you eventually.

I am beginning to think that all this hype could have been about (really stupid, but rich) people trying to evade taxes and that the speculation angle actually is kind of a side-show.

Coinbase is based in San Francisco

[Kernel Kurtz]

If you want to avoid the IRS it is profoundly dumb to do business with a US company.

Same as if you want to avoid the NSA, or the FBI, or the MAFIAA, or whatever.