In Matt Metras’ excellent article on tax reporting for clients who receive settlements from the Celsius bankruptcy, he says “It’s unclear if this section could apply to digital asset bankruptcies for a variety of reasons outside the scope of this article.” Matt provides an example of the IRS’ preferred method of accounting for settlement proceeds as published on the Taxpayer Advocate’s website. Matt also notes that the TAS tax tip lacks any citations to substantial authority. It may or may not be taxpayer friendly. The articles published by many cryptocurrency exchanges are also citation free and, after a cursory review, seem geared in a larger sense toward helping exchange users account for the settlement accurately on the exchange itself. In this article, I would like to look at the forest of tax law principles that the Celsius bankruptcy settlement puts into play rather than any specific tax reporting tree. Welcome to the jungle.
Assessment Statutes and Document Retention Best Practices
When it comes to document retention, my guiding policy is “If I don’t keep it, it can’t be stolen or subpoenaed.” That sounds cynical, but there’s truth in it. The smaller your data “surface area,” the less you have to manage in the event of a data breach (or, if you hold paper documents, in the event of a fire or break in). And, if a client or former client gets really sideways in divorce or criminal court, being able to say “I have a policy in place and I don’t keep records longer than three years” can provide you with a measure of peace. But what should your policy be? It depends, but relevant assessment statutes are a good place to start. This article reviews the IRS rules for assessing tax and provides some best practices for developing document retention policies for return preparation documents in your practice.
