[ExI] tyranny by 16th amendment: was: RE: [mta] Re: Long Term Bitcoin Catastrophe?

[Gordon]

spike <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

>So if I use bitcoins, am I not inviting an IRS audit?
 
You posed this question once before, to which I replied that trading in bitcoins is about as untraceable as trading in baseball cards. Unlike stocks and bonds, for example, the IRS currently has no way to know that you bought or sold bitcoins. (With stocks and bonds, your broker must report your cost basis when you sell. Not so with bitcoins, currently. Bitcoin investors are on the honor system.)

However, if by "if I use bitcoins" you mean that you are a business that accepts bitcoins in exchange for the goods or services you provide, and you advertise this fact, then yes I suppose that could invite an audit. But this is I think no different from any other sort of barter. If you're a barber who accepts pork-chops in exchange for haircuts, those transactions are also subject to tax at the fair market value of both.

That is my understanding, anyway.

Gordon 
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