“God grant me the serenity to accept...”

So my brain is running - thinking about what I have to do and a word crept in there which describes how I feel - ‘Trepidation’ - which doesn’t mean fearful necessarily, maybe more along the lines of apprehension or uncertain...

I am one of the lucky ones who got into cryptocurrency ahead of last year’s rocket (no, I’m not a bitcoin millionaire) and sold off pieces for a decent amount of dollars (for me anyway ...) - with the full intention of paying the capital gains taxes, which would be much easier if we were talking about conventional forms of property like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or real estate.

The IRS ‘guidance’ on crypto from 2014 has to be one of the most disturbing government documents I’ve ever seen, a cobbled together instructional which is so bad, the authors had to leave their contact info and ask the public for suggestions. Who in their right mind would out himself to the IRS when he can see they don’t have any idea what they’re doing? (You might as well paint a bullseye on your back!)

Furthermore, why didn’t they ask Congress for suggestions? Isn’t it Congress who has authority over the creation of new taxes and new methods of calculating them?

Never mind the tax ‘reform’ that was just passed, which is even more annoying.

Don’t worry, I’m not a tax crusader. The way the government is going about trying to get their pound of flesh may be bullshit, but I’m not foolish enough to try to evade or challenge them.

(Perhaps now is a good time for me to utter the serenity prayer... Ah, that’s better...)

This feeling of trepidation is similar to the time I left Michigan Standard Bank to go independent in 2014 or ahead of my velomobile trip down to Ohio in 2016... Those were moments of uncertainty that carried through.... Maybe this will be just as well...

So, you’re wondering, “Hey Mullins, what’s the big deal? Highball the IRS and you’ll be good...”

It’s not that simple. I’m trying to leave the financial services business and transition into something else... If the IRS decides to hyper-scrutinize my crypto holdings and transactions, that will put a damper on my plans because I’d like to buy some more dollars this year. If the crypto markets keep rising, I might be able to create an income portfolio and quasi-retire while still maintaining a decent set of crypto holdings...

But if the IRS decides to take a closer look, there could be trouble...

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-14-21.pdf