Happy Tax starts cryptocurrency specialty tax practice

Happy Tax, a growing tax franchise, has opened a new tax preparation division aimed at the burgeoning cryptocurrency market.

The new division, CryptoTaxPrep.com, caters to clients from Happy Tax’s network of more than 1,000 franchisees, independent contractors and investors along with taxpayers who need help dealing with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, Happy Tax began accepting cryptocurrency for franchise fees, a first in the tax prep industry.

The company has spent much of the year hiring and training CPAs who specialize in tax prep for the growing number of bitcoin and cryptocurrency traders to staff the new CryptoTaxPrep.com division.

“There is much confusion and misinformation regarding crypto taxation on the internet and throughout the many crypto groups, forums and discussion boards” said Happy Tax CEO Mario Costanz in a statement. “As someone who has been deeply connected within the blockchain and cryptocurrency space for the past two years, I can say that it has progressed to be much more than just hardcore techies and coders. People from all backgrounds have now begun to not only become aware of crypto but also embrace it and trade it.”

The new site will accept payment in U.S. dollars by credit or debit card as well as payment by bitcoin. Costanz plans to provide weekly updates on the subject throughout tax season for people who have questions about the capital gains and self-employment laws relating to cryptocurrency.

The IRS has sued Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., seeking information on its users and their trades. In asking a federal judge for Coinbase to turn over its users’ account information to the agency, the IRS said that even though millions had traded cryptocurrency in 2015, only 802 taxpayers included such trades on their tax returns. Happy Tax hopes to help taxpayers who find themselves in such a situation.

Bitcoins

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