US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent marked Tax Day by praising the Working Families Tax Cuts, saying tens of millions of Americans now keep more of their paychecks. But for Bitcoin (BTC) users, the tax code tells a very different story.
Cato Institute research fellow Nicholas Anthony published a new analysis arguing that capital gains rules have made it nearly impossible to spend Bitcoin as money in the United States.
Bitcoin Spending Triggers a Paperwork Avalanche
Anthony explained that every purchase made with BTC requires users to record the acquisition date, the spending date, the original cost, and the gain or loss.
All of those details must land on IRS Form 8949 and Schedule D of Form 1040.
The result, he wrote, is staggering. A person who buys a cup of coffee every day with bitcoin could face more than 100 pages of filings by year-end. Form 8949 alone could run to roughly 70 pages for daily transactions.
“Capital gains tax rates are structured to incentivize long-term holding. This policy distorts the market by incentivizing buying and selling solely to mitigate tax losses. However, it’s especially distortionary in the context of money, given that long-term holding policies discourage what is generally considered ‘currency use,'” wrote Nicholas Anthony,
Congress Has Options, Anthony Says
Anthony outlined several potential fixes. The simplest would eliminate capital gains taxes entirely. A narrower approach would exempt cryptocurrency and foreign currency from capital gains treatment.
He also referenced the Virtual Currency Tax Fairness Act, which would create a de minimis exemption for gains under $200, though he argued the threshold should rise to match average household spending of $80,000.
Meanwhile, payment infrastructure is moving faster than the tax code. Square recently launched no-fee Bitcoin payments at merchant terminals, and self-hosted wallets from Bull Bitcoin, Zeus, and Trezor have simplified consumer spending.
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