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For years, cryptocurrency holdings of U.S. taxpayers have existed in a sort of reporting gray zone. But now, those crypto wallets are getting a whole lot of attention from the Internal Revenue Service and President Biden, who appear determined to crack down on tax cheats.

The timing makes sense.

The president needs to raise money, relatively quickly, for his own ambitious economic agenda. And the “tax gap,” which is the difference between taxes paid and taxes owed, is a big pool of cash ripe for the picking. IRS chief Charles Rettig says the country is losing about a trillion dollars every year in unpaid taxes, and he credits this growing tax gap, at least in part, to the rise of the crypto market.

The federal government is so convinced of the potential for income from back-due taxes that the White House wants to give the IRS an extra $80 billion and new powers to crack down on tax dodgers, including those parking their cash in crypto. 

“The IRS is in the business of collecting revenue,” said Shehan Chandrasekera, CPA, and head of tax strategy at CoinTracker.io, a crypto tax software company. 

“Historically, if they spend $1 for any type of enforcement activity, they make $5…I think crypto enforcement activities are even higher than that,” he said.

Non-compliance made easy

In the U.S., it is easy to be an unintentional crypto tax cheat.

For one, the IRS hasn’t exactly made it easy to report this information. 

Tax year 2019 was the first time the IRS explicitly asked taxpayers whether they had dealt in crypto. A question on form Schedule 1 read, “At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?”

But experts said the question was vague, and crucially, not everyone files this specific document. A Schedule 1 is typically used to report income not listed on the Form 1040, such as capital gains, alimony, or gambling winnings. 

So in 2020, the IRS upped its game by moving the virtual currency question to the 1040 itself, which is used by all individuals filing an annual income tax return. 

“[They put it] right after your name and social security number, and before you put any income numbers or deduction numbers in,” explained Lewis Taub, CPA and director of tax services at Berkowitz Pollack Brant. This made the question virtually impossible to miss. 

But perhaps the bigger issue, according to Shehan, is that many filers have no clue how to calculate their crypto capital gains and losses.

If you trade through a brokerage, you typically get a Form 1099-B spelling out your transaction proceeds, streamlining the reporting process.

That doesn’t happen in the crypto world, Shehan said. “Many crypto exchanges don’t report any information to the IRS.” 

While some crypto exchanges have begun to issue a tax form known as the 1099-K – which is traditionally given to an individual who engages in at least 200 transactions worth an aggregate $20,000 or more – in the context of crypto, this form only reports the total value of transactions. The total value does not factor in how much the person paid for the cryptocurrency in the first place, something referred to as the “cost basis,” which makes it hard to calculate the taxable gain.

“A lot of people have actually over-reported their income, because they got confused,” explained Shehan. 

But the biggest issue driving non-compliance is the fact that the tax rules surrounding digital currencies are still being worked out, and in a state of constant flux.

‘Taxable event’

The IRS treats virtual currencies like bitcoin as property, meaning that it is taxed in a manner similar to stocks or real property. If you buy one bitcoin for $10,000 and sell it for $50,000, you face $40,000 of taxable capital gains. While this concept is relatively simple, it isn’t always clear what constitutes a “taxable event.”

Is buying dogecoin with your bitcoin a taxable event? Purchasing a TV with your dogecoin? Buyingan NFT with ether? 

All of the above are technically taxable events.

“The government says if I buy something with crypto, it is as if I liquidated my crypto no differently than if I sold any other property,” said Taub.

Mining dogecoin for fun qualifies as self-employment income in the eyes of the government. According to cryptocurrency tax software TaxBit – which recently contracted with the IRS to aid the agency in digital currency-related audits – tax rates vary between 10-37% on mining proceeds. 

“Crypto miners have to pay taxes on the fair market value of the mined coins at the time of receipt,” wrote crypto tax attorney Justin Woodward. While there are ways to get creative to minimize this tax burden, such as classifying mining as a business and deducting equipment and electricity expenses, it takes a bit of filing acrobatics to make it work.  

Earning interest on the bitcoin sitting idle in your crypto wallet also counts as income and is taxed as such. Exchanges like Coinbase have also begun to send Form 1099-MISC to taxpayers who earned $600 or more on crypto rewards or staking. 

The IRS crypto crackdown

Crypto trading volume may have fallen off a cliff in the last few weeks, but the overall market value of digital currencies is still up about 75% this year. The IRS has made it clear that it wants a piece of the action.

The agency recently ramped up efforts to subpoena centralized crypto exchanges for information about noncompliant U.S. taxpayers. 

This spring, courts authorized the IRS to issue John Doe summonses to crypto exchange operators Kraken and Circle as a way to find individuals who conducted at least $20,000 of transactions in cryptocurrency from 2016 to 2020. 

The IRS also put this same type of summons to use in 2016, when it went after Coinbase crypto transactions from 2013 to 2015.

Issuing these summons one exchange at a time is a clumsy way to capture noncompliant U.S. taxpayers, but it can be effective, according to Jon Feldhammer, a partner at law firm Baker Botts and a former IRS senior litigator.

In 2019, the IRS announced it was sending letters to more than 10,000 people who potentially failed to report crypto income. 

Rettig said in a statement that taxpayers should take the letter “very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate, amend past returns and pay back taxes, interest and penalties.”

Sample Letter 6173
IRS

According to Shehan, the infamous “Letter 6173” gave individuals 30 days to respond to the IRS, otherwise they risked having their tax profile examined. Letters went out again in 2020, and a fresh round of these stern warnings are expected to be sent this autumn.

Even the threat of a letter has a lot of people seeking the counsel of accountants as to whether they should get ahead of a potential audit and be proactive about amending past returns.

“A lot of people ask me on Twitter: ‘Oh my god, in 2018, I had $200 worth of capital gains I didn’t report. What should I do?'” recounted Shehan. “In that case, it just is not worth amending the return to pick up $200 worth of income…The high-level thing is that if you didn’t do anything intentionally, you are fine.”

The IRS is also getting smarter about uncovering crypto tax evaders with the help of new data analytic tools it can employ in-house. 

The agency’s partnership with TaxBit is a part of this effort. Taub describes the software as being able to go through cryptocurrency wallets and analyze them to figure out what was bought and sold in crypto. In addition to enlisting the services of the vendor itself, Taub says that IRS agents are being trained up on the software as a way to identify tax dodgers.

Biden’s new crypto rules

The president’s 2022 budget proposal could lead to a raft of new crypto reporting requirements for those dealing in digital coins.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s new “Greenbook,” released in May, calls for more comprehensive reporting requirements for crypto, so it’s as hard to spend digital currencies without getting reported as it is to spend cash today.

One proposal would require businesses to report to the IRS all cryptocurrency transactions valued at more than $10,000. Another calls for crypto asset exchanges and custodians to report data on user accounts which conduct at least $600 worth of gross inflows or outflows in a given year.

Another potential major blow to crypto holders: Biden’s proposal to raise the top tax rate on long-term capital gains to 43.4%, up from 23.8%

“Crypto gains are being taxed as any other type of gain in assets, either at long-term capital gains or ordinary rates. President Biden has proposed to eliminate the difference between the two,” said David Lesperance, a Toronto-based attorney who specializes in relocating the rich. 

Lesperance told CNBC the proposal would also function retroactively and apply to any transactions which took place after April 28, 2020. 

“This translates into $19,800 in increased capital gains tax for each $100,000 in capital appreciation of crypto,” he said.

Amid the rising crypto crackdown here in the U.S., Lesperance has helped clients to expatriate in order to ditch their tax burden altogether. 

“By exercising a properly executed expatriation strategy, the first $750,000 in capital appreciation is tax-free and the individual can organize themselves to pay no U.S. tax at all in the future,” he said. 

But Lesperance warned that taxpayers need to move fast. “The runway to execute this strategy is very short,” he said.

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Alphabet jumps 3% as search, advertising units show resilient growth

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Alphabet jumps 3% as search, advertising units show resilient growth

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai during the Google I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California, on May 10, 2023.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Alphabet‘s stock gained 3% Friday after signaling strong growth in its search and advertising businesses amid a competitive artificial intelligence environment and uncertain macro backdrop.

GOOGL‘s pace of GenAI product roll-out is accelerating with multiple encouraging signals,” wrote Morgan Stanley‘s Brian Nowak. “Macro uncertainty still exists but we remain [overweight] given GOOGL’s still strong relative position and improving pace of GenAI enabled product roll-out.”

The search giant posted earnings of $2.81 per share on $90.23 billion in revenues. That topped the $89.12 billion in sales and $2.01 in EPS expected by LSEG analysts. Revenues grew 12% year-over-year and ahead of the 10% anticipated by Wall Street.

Net income rose 46% to $34.54 billion, or $2.81 per share. That’s up from $23.66 billion, or $1.89 per share, in the year-ago period. Alphabet said the figure included $8 billion in unrealized gains on its nonmarketable equity securities connected to its investment in a private company.

Adjusted earnings, excluding that gain, were $2.27 per share, according to LSEG, and topped analyst expectations.

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Alphabet shares have pulled back about 16% this year as it battles volatility spurred by mounting trade war fears and worries that President Donald Trump‘s tariffs could crush the global economy. That would make it more difficult for Alphabet to potentially acquire infrastructure for data centers powering AI models as it faces off against competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic to develop largely language models.

During Thursday’s call with investors, Alphabet suggested that it’s too soon to tally the total impact of tariffs. However, Google’s business chief Philipp Schindler said that ending the de minimis trade exemption in May, which created a loophole benefitting many Chinese e-commerce retailers, could create a “slight headwind” for the company’s ads business, specifically in the Asia-Pacific region. The loophole allows shipments under $800 to come into the U.S. duty-free.

Despite this backdrop, Alphabet showed steady growth in its advertising and search business, reporting $66.89 billion in revenues for its advertising unit. That reflected 8.5% growth from the year-ago period. The company reported $8.93 billion in advertising revenue for its YouTube business, shy of an $8.97 billion estimate from StreetAccount.

Alphabet’s “Search and other” unit rose 9.8% to $50.7 billion, up from $46.16 billion last year. The company said that its AI Overviews tool used in its Google search results page has accumulated 1.5 billion monthly users from a billion in October.

Bank of America analyst Justin Post said that Wall Street is underestimating the upside potential and “monetization ramp” from this tool and cloud demand fueled by AI.

“The strong 1Q search performance, along with constructive comments on Gemini [large language model] performance and [AI Overviews] adoption could help alleviate some investor concerns on AI competition,” Post wrote in a note.

WATCH: Gemini delivering well for Google, says Check Capital’s Chris Ballard

Gemini delivering well for Google, says Check Capital's Chris Ballard

CNBC’s Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.

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Amazon sellers raise prices after Trump’s China tariff: ‘It’s unsustainable’

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Amazon sellers raise prices after Trump's China tariff: 'It's unsustainable'

An Amazon employee works to fulfill same-day orders during Cyber Monday, one of the company’s busiest days at an Amazon fulfillment center on December 2, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. 

Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | Getty Images

For 10 years, Aaron Cordovez has been selling kitchen appliances on Amazon. Now he’s in a bind, because most of his products are manufactured in China.

Cordovez, co-founder of Zulay Kitchen, said his company is moving “as fast as we can” to move production to India, Mexico and other markets, where tariffs are increasing under President Donald Trump, but are mild compared with the levies imposed on goods from China. That process will likely take at least a year or two to complete, he said.

“We’re making our inventory last as long as we can,” Cordovez said in an email.

Zulay is also temporarily raising the price of some of its milk frothers, smores roasting sticks and other products. The company’s popular kitchen strainer now costs $12.99, up from $9.99 before Trump announced his sweeping tariff proposal earlier this month.

Amazon merchants are hiking prices for everything from diaper bags and refrigerator magnets to charm necklaces and other top-selling items as they confront higher import costs. E-commerce software company SmartScout tracked 930 products on Amazon that have seen increased prices since April 9, with an average jump of 29%.

The price hikes affect a range of categories, including clothing, jewelry, household items, office supplies, electronics and toys.

The trade war with China has threatened to upend sellers on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, which accounts for about 60% of the company’s online sales. Many merchants are based in China or rely on the world’s second-largest economy to source and assemble their products.

Sellers are now faced with the conundrum of raising prices or eating the extra costs associated with Trump’s new tariffs. It’s an existential threat for many sellers, who subsist on razor-thin margins and have, for the last several years, dealt with rising costs on Amazon tied to storage, fulfillment, shipping and advertising fees along with pricing pressure from increased competition.

CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC earlier this month that the company was “going to try and do everything we can” to keep prices low for shoppers, including renegotiating terms with some of its suppliers. But he acknowledged some third-party sellers will “need to pass that cost” of tariffs on to consumers.

Amazon’s stock price is down 15% so far this year, sliding along with the broader market. The company reports first-quarter earnings next week.

Watch CNBC's full interview with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Goods imported from China now face import duties of 145%, though Trump said Wednesday his administration is “actively” talking with China about a potential deal to lower tariffs. Chinese officials on Thursday denied that trade talks are taking place.

About 25% of the price increases observed by SmartScout were initiated by sellers based in China, said Scott Needham, the company’s CEO. Last week, stainless steel jewelry maker Ursteel hiked prices on four of its products by $6.50, while apparel brand Chouyatou raised the price of some of its dresses by $2. Both businesses are based in China’s Zhejiang province.

Anker, a Chinese electronics brand and one of Amazon’s largest sellers, has raised prices on one-fifth of its products sold in the U.S., including a portable power bank, which went up to $135 from $110, SmartScout data shows.

Representatives from Anker, Ursteel and Chouyatou didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Zulay, headquartered in Florida, is one of many U.S.-based sellers raising prices. The company is also cutting costs. Cordovez said he’s been forced to lay off 19% of his workforce and slash online ad spending by 85%.

Desert Cactus, based in Illinois, is also taking action. Joe Stefani, the company’s president, has been looking to move production of some of his brand’s college-themed merchandise out of China and into Mexico, India and Vietnam. About half of Desert Cactus’ goods come from China, while the rest are made in the U.S., Stefani said.

An Amazon worker moves a cart filled with packages at an Amazon delivery station in Alpharetta, Georgia, on Nov. 28, 2022.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

One of the company’s top products is a customizable license plate frame that’s manufactured in China. At the start of Trump’s first term in 2016, Stefani’s company paid import and shipping fees of 4% on the license plates. That rate has since skyrocketed to 170%, he said.

“The tariffs can’t stay this high,” Stefani said. “There’s so many people that just aren’t going to make it.”

Stefani said he expects Desert Cactus will end up raising prices on some products, though he’s worried shoppers might be put off by sticker shock.

“Will someone be willing to pay $50 for a hat on Amazon?” Stefani said. “You know it’s going to be expensive at the ballpark, but on Amazon we don’t know.”

Dave Dama, co-founder of health and beauty business Pure Daily Care, said the price to manufacture one of his skin-care products in China jumped to $25 from $10. Most Amazon sellers will have no choice but to raise prices, he said.

“If you were selling something for $40 and making a $7 or $8 profit at the end of the day, with these tariffs, those days are gone,” Dama said. “You can’t do that anymore. It’s unsustainable.”

Pure Daily Care plans to stagger price increases over several weeks, and only on products “we absolutely need to,” to keep Amazon’s algorithms from ranking it lower in search results or losing the valuable buy box, he said. The buy box determines which listing pops up first when a shopper clicks on a particular product, and the one that gets purchased when they tap “Add to Cart.”

An Amazon spokesperson said the company’s pricing policies continue to apply.

“As always, sellers set their own prices, and we regularly monitor how we highlight great prices as Featured Offers to provide customers with low prices across a wide selection,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Dama said his company has enough inventory for some products to last up to six months, which it aims to “stretch as long as possible” in the hope that China and the U.S. can reach a trade deal. The company is also forgoing some sales promotions and discounts, while pausing spend on some display and video ads.

Regarding his inventory, Dama said, “We can try to stretch that seven, eight, nine months, which buys us a lot more time for this thing to work out, hopefully.”

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Trump tariffs are raising prices on Amazon and threatening to ruin U.S. sellers who source in China

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Pony.ai teams up with Tencent for robotaxi services on WeChat, other apps

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Pony.ai teams up with Tencent for robotaxi services on WeChat, other apps

A Pony.ai autonomous car.

Pony.ai

Chinese start-up Pony.ai said Friday it will develop autonomous driving technology in partnership with Tencent Cloud and deploy robotaxi services on tech giant Tencent’s WeChat and other applications.

The Nasdaq-listed company which specializes in autonomous vehicle technology, particularly robotaxis and robotrucks, said in a press release that the deal will include cooperation in areas such as cloud services, map data, information security and intelligent cockpit ecosystems.

The arrangement will also see the two companies integrate Pony.ai’s robotaxi ride-hailing services within Tencent’s popular WeChat app as well as other applications like Tencent Maps. 

Both companies had been in talks “for quite some time,” Pony.ai CEO James Peng told CNBC on the sidelines of the Shanghai Auto Show on Friday. He cited Tencent’s huge user base and its cloud offerings as factors supporting the “win-win” collaboration as the start-up continues to scale up.

Following the partnership, Peng said that “hopefully in the near future,” users would be able to call Pony.ai robotaxi rides straight through the WeChat app.

WeChat is known as the world’s most popular ‘super app,’ housing everything from messaging to payment transactions to food delivery services, with a monthly user base of over 1 billion people.

“Pony.ai possesses industry-leading autonomous driving technology accumulations, while Tencent excels in cloud services, mapping, and cockpit ecosystem technologies,” Vice President of Tencent Group and President of Tencent Smart Mobility Zhong Xiangping was quoted as saying in the Friday release. 

“This strategic partnership between the two parties is not only about complementing each other’s technologies and resources but also marks a new starting point for collaborative innovation,” he added. 

Ordering a robotaxi ride on WeChat may soon be possible, says Pony.ai CEO

The release said that the partnership would also see both companies collaborate on the development, testing, and operation of Robotaxis, particularly in L4-level autonomous driving.

According to SAE International, L4 is a type of autonomous driving that allows drivers to take their eyes off the road in designated areas. For comparison, L3 is considered a hands-off system, but drivers must actively monitor the vehicle and be ready to take over the wheel.

The Tencent Cloud agreement comes a day after it was reported that Pony.ai unveiled its L4, seventh-generation robotaxi solution at the Shanghai Auto Show on Wednesday. The company’s shares surged about 40% in the U.S. on Thursday. 

The start-up continues to establish itself as a prominent player in China’s autonomous driving industry. The company obtained China’s first permit to charge fares for fully driverless taxis in core parts of a business district of Shenzhen, where Tencent is headquartered. 

However, the firm may be implicated in increasing trade tensions between China and the U.S. as the latter is a market Pony.ai considers “hugely important” to its expansion plans.

James Peng, co-founder and chief executive of Pony.ai this week reportedly told the Financial Times that the company is considering a secondary listing outside the U.S. amid mounting concerns that Washington will push for the delisting of Chinese companies off the New York Stock Exchange. 

If this were to happen, it would come less than six months after the company’s initial public offering in the U.S. Notwithstanding, Peng told FT that a lot of factors need to be considered.

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