IRS Knockout Blow: Kraken Forced To Unleash User Data In Crypto Showdown

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July 1, 2023 by Ammar Raza

In a significant development, a federal court has ruled that popular cryptocurrency exchange Kraken must surrender user account and transaction data to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 

The court’s decision comes after the IRS filed a petition earlier this year, seeking the information to investigate potential tax underreporting by Kraken users.

Legal Battle Emerges After Kraken’s SEC Settlement

The legal battle began shortly after Kraken resolved allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding violations of securities law related to its staking service. 

Following this settlement, the IRS issued a summons to the exchange in 2021, which Kraken allegedly failed to comply with. The tax enforcement agency aimed to assess tax liabilities for users who engaged in cryptocurrency transactions between 2016 and 2020.

Judge Joseph Spero presided over the case and ruled that the exchange must furnish account and transaction details of users who conducted crypto transactions amounting to more than $20,000 in value during any given calendar year between 2016 and 2020. 

The information demanded includes users’ full names, pseudonyms, birthdates, taxpayer identification numbers, physical addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and other pertinent documents.

However, Judge Spero rejected certain IRS requests, including those for employment information and source of wealth of Kraken’s users. He argued that such demands were excessively broad and not necessary to achieve the IRS’s purpose, particularly for the majority of anonymous “Doe” users.

The court filing concludes that Kraken must now produce the specified documents for affected users. This move aims to enable the IRS to scrutinize transactions and determine whether tax obligations were accurately reported during the specified period.

It’s essential to note that Kraken may also provide blockchain addresses and transaction hashes that are already part of the exchange’s transaction data. Additionally, the court ruled that Kraken can furnish raw data for IRS review, even if it does not specifically identify chainsplitting transactions.

However, this court ruling marks a significant development in the IRS’s efforts to ensure proper tax compliance within the cryptocurrency industry. The outcome sets a precedent for potential future actions by tax authorities seeking to uncover undisclosed tax liabilities among cryptocurrency users.

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