I don't know about you guys, but since bitcoin wasn't created with anonymity in mind (that's included in altcoins like Monero and Zcash), I wouldn't attempt to lie about my cryptocurrency net worth in the first place. I know talking about paying taxes is a sensitive topic for some people because it could easily be seen as attempting to dictate you in how to manage your money.
As bitcoin gets more popular it's inevitable that it will be taxed on, taxing isn't inherently bad, they are one way of funding the government, but there are a large demographic of people who would rather pay less taxes. It isn't wise to evade filling this field because usually they will find out and interest will have been accrued on the tax so not only would you have to pay the cryptocurrencies tax but also the interest that accumulated after you tried to dodge the form.
The warning letter they send is basically "You have 30 days to send the remaining taxes". I don't think they're doing anything malicious here.
you're giving the IRS too much credit. they are utterly dependent on voluntary compliance. that's what this is about---scaring people into paying
or else. the same goes for the mass letter campaign from last year.
if you received a "Letter 6173" or "CP2000" that means you either got caught in the coinbase john doe summons net, or an exchange sent you a 1099, and you obviously didn't report some activity. lying in this situation (at least about the data the IRS already has) is obviously dumb.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/internal-revenue-service-sends-new-round-of-letters-to-crypto-holdershttps://www.cryptotrader.tax/blog/irs-letter-6174-a-for-cryptocurrencyas for the rest of your holdings and trading activity? the IRS has nowhere near the manpower to unravel the mess of p2p/no KYC services, mixers, exchanges etc for every average joe. if a broker or exchange sends them info and you didn't report it, that's when shit gets real.