With the deadline fast approaching, you may still need more time to file your tax return. Fortunately, the IRS allows you to file for a six-month extension, providing you with more time.
Let’s take a look at how to file a tax extension, what to do if you can’t pay, and some specific considerations for cryptocurrency traders and investors.
What is a cryptocurrency tax extension?
Simply put, a crypto tax extension is a way to allow you more time to file your taxes. What it’s not, unfortunately, is a way to defer your Crypto Taxes and Accounting if you owe the IRS money. That’s because you’ll need to still pay “estimated taxes,” even if you are not completing your tax filing.
When you file a Crypto tax extension, you will have an extra six months to complete your paperwork, putting your new date at October 17th. If you don’t owe any taxes, you don’t need to file a tax extension—but you also won’t get your refund until you do.
How To File A Tax Extension: Crypto Edition
The IRS offers a six-month extension to file your taxes, which puts the new tax filing deadline at October 17, 2022.
You can receive an automatic extension on your individual income tax return by filing Form 4868 by April 18, 2022. Most taxpayers complete the form online by filling out an e-file, but you can also send in a paper form that’s postmarked by the due date. The address that you send the form to depends on your state of residence.
On the form, you’ll need to fill out your identification information and estimate your total tax liability for the year. You must also indicate if you’re “out of the country” and if you didn’t receive wages as an employee subject to income tax withholdings (e.g. if you’re a 1099 contractor).
Estimating your total tax liability can be a challenge for crypto traders and investors. If you haven’t been tracking your transactions, you may want to use a tool like ZenLedger to aggregate your transactions across wallets and exchanges and compute your estimated capital gain or loss for the year.
You Still Owe Your Crypto Taxes
The IRS extension only gives you more time to finish the paperwork; it does not give you more time to pay what you owe. Your tax payment is still due on April 18, 2022 even if you don’t send in your final tax paperwork until October 17. That’s why you must estimate your tax liability on Form 4868.
There are three types of penalties to keep in mind:
- The IRS will charge you interest on the unpaid balance until you pay the full amount. If you underestimate your tax liability (even accidentally), you will owe interest on the unpaid amount beginning on April 18, 2022.
- The IRS will charge you a late payment penalty if you don’t pay at least 90% of what you owe by the original deadline. The penalty is typically 0.5% of the amount owed per month up to a maximum of 25%, so it’s important to accurately estimate your tax liability when completing Form 4868.
- The IRS will charge you a late filing penalty if you don’t file Form 4868 by the original deadline. The penalty is typically 5% of the amount per month up to a maximum of 25%. If you cannot complete your taxes on time, it’s imperative to file Form 4868 to avoid the highest penalties.
If you don’t owe any income tax or are receiving a refund, you won’t be subject to penalties on underpayments, but you won’t receive your refund until you file your tax return.
What if You Can’t Pay Your Crypto Taxes?
Crypto trading involves a lot of volatility, which can create sudden unexpected gains or losses. At the same time, it’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day trading without realizing the amount of capital gains that you’re accruing over time. These gains even accrue on crypto to crypto transactions!
Active traders that make trades on taxable accounts (e.g. outside of tax advantaged retirement accounts) are typically subject to estimated income tax payments and all of the associated rules. By paying in each quarter, you avoid a large tax bill at the end of the year that can be hard to pay.
If you cannot afford to pay your taxes, you should still file your return by the deadline and pay as much as you can to avoid penalties and interest. You can also contact the IRS to discuss payment options at (800) 829-1040. The agency may provide a short-term extension, installment agreement or compromise.
How To Minimize Your Crypto Tax Bill
There are many ways to minimize your tax bill in the current year to avoid making the same mistakes as last year.
Traders making quarterly estimated tax payments can take advantage of the “Safe Harbor Rule” by paying 100% of their prior year’s tax amount in quarterly installments. If you’re making more this year, you can defer the rest of the payments until April 18, 2023 without interest or penalties.
Of course, deferring taxes means that you should save up to pay them. Crypto traders that generate taxable gains on crypto to crypto transactions may want to set aside the taxable amount of the proceeds in U.S. dollars to ensure that they have enough capital on hand to pay taxes during tax season.
You can also minimize your capital gains taxes by taking advantage of tax-loss harvesting. By selling losing positions and realizing losses, you can offset capital gains or up to $3,000 in income on your tax return. You can even re-establish the crypto position immediately afterward!
ZenLedger provides a free tax loss harvesting tool that makes it easy to identify losing positions in your portfolio that are ripe for the strategy. By harvesting losses throughout the year, you can minimize your capital gains while keeping your crypto positions open and your portfolio in balance.
The Bottom Line
Taxes can be a stressful time, especially when it comes to cryptocurrency. If you need more time and are wondering how to file a tax extension, you can simply do it with Form 4868 either online or by mail, but you must still pay the tax that you owe on time to avoid interest and penalties. If you can’t, the IRS has some options.
If you’re struggling to calculate how much you owe, you may want to use a tool like ZenLedger to aggregate your transactions and simplify the process. You can use the same tool to help lower your tax bill in the current year using strategies like tax loss harvesting.
