Treasury preps guidance on infrastructure bill’s crypto tax reporting rules: report

The U.S. Treasury is preparing guidance on the crypto tax reporting provisions in the infrastructure bill, which recently passed the Senate and is heading for the House, according to a Bloomberg report published Friday. 

The provisions provoked a mass outcry from the cryptocurrency industry, which saw the definition of «broker» as excessively broad. Per an unnamed Treasury official cited by Bloomberg, new guidance is in production as to how the Treasury will define a digital asset «broker» in practice. 

The guidance will, however, not grant «blanket exemptions,» instead focusing on whether the Treasury considers the activities undertaken to be those of a broker, per the report.

In some way, the reported guidance could be viewed as an olive branch to the crypto industry. Indeed, Senator Rob Portman, who wrote the original language, has said that the intention was not to target players like miners and software developers. The Treasury has echoed this sentiment and backed an amendment to the bill that would add more specificity. 

That amendment, however, died before entering the bill due to the objections of Senator Richard Shelby. The House, meanwhile, is not keen to amend the bill, as that would extend the timeframe for dissent on both the infrastructure package and a $3.5 trillion spending package also headed its way.

Despite the Treasury’s attempts to mollify the outraged crypto industry, regulators can reverse course on guidance, particularly given that management changes along with the presidency. 

A representative for the IRS declined to comment on the ongoing legislation or the current crypto reporting expectations. 

   

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