The digital asset broker reporting law passed in 2021 is straightforward and sensible. There are plenty of intermediaries in the crypto ecosystem that execute transactions on behalf of millions of American digital asset investors. Just like it does in the traditional finance (“TradFi”) context, it makes a lot of sense for such businesses to inform not only their customers about what they owe in taxes but also the IRS, so they can ensure people pay what they owe.
The IRS’s proposed regulations that fill in all the important gaps in this reporting requirement unfortunately go far beyond this, however. All the gritty legal details were proposed on Aug. 25, and the public’s opportunity to comment on those proposals concludes Nov. 13.