so... using coinbase or another exchange seems to be the safe way to avoid issues of not filing an MSB (ie: the exchange is the Money Service Business) when selling one's coins for USD.
for mined coins, the process of reaping some mining effort into USD it would seem I'd go from my other wallet(s) to the coinbase wallet to my bank account. Question: for most assets (and IRS is calling crypto currency a 'thing', right?) if you own it (hold the private key to it) for > 1 year, that would be a long term capital gain? (lower rate of tax than ordinary income) but how can you know you've had "that/those" coins for > 1 year? or does LTCG not apply to self mined coins?
It's possible some coin purchases will happen, and those coins (coin prices, values, costs/commissions) could be put in spreadsheet so when you sold "them" later you can note your basis (the spread between your cost and sale price = the taxable value) so what do the column headings of your spreadsheet look like? (your buy and sell spreadsheets) - can you share the header row in yours?
lastly, when doing an exchange (like https://changelly.com/) you're just swapping equivalent values, so no gains realized. can you track your commission costs/transaction expenses and deduct those from the other gains that year?
yes, i'll be consulting an expert - but want to know where to limit my questions with them, vs. an "open bar" at $250/hr, etc. Any recommendations on who you got your legal advice from? (hopefully not $250hr
)thanks,
BG