Does simply owning cyber currency put you at increased risk of audit and tax penalty?

Many cyber currency owners believe that if they didn’t receive any cash then there is no tax due now. IRS disagrees and will let them know!

Even a “fork” in your cyser currency now triggers immediate tax under current IRS rules. Owing tax without receiving any real benefit strikes many as unfair and the Virtual Currencies Fairness Act introduces potential reforms. But the outcome of the bill is uncertain, especially in light of government pressures to raise tax revenue.

For 2019 returns, taxpayers must disclose their ownership of cyber currency to IRS and we can bet that IRS will use this information to raise tax revenue.