In assisting businesses in accounting for digital asset transactions, one of the greatest advantages a company can use to improve the security of their wallets, increase the efficiency of their business departments, and gain the greatest tax advantages currently allowed is to properly set up their wallet structure.
Wallet structure covers a lot of ground and this writeup will cover why this is something an entity or business owner should invest their limited time in. Done at the beginning or right now is never a bad time to review and adjust where necessary. Cryptocurrency has amazing benefits for a business; the speed and efficiency of moving funds between wallets, exchanges, business departments, or nation states exceeds any option available and allows business to use this time savings to make business decisions in real time. This speed can and should only be used with strategy and intention to gain the greatest advantage for your business needs.
So, what strategy tips allow for you to gain this advantage without subjecting you to additional complications on the horizon; cost basis management for tax treatment, ease of allocations for possible tax credits, and security of wallets and assets held are a several that allow you to gain greater operational efficiency.
Cost basis management is very important for this singular reason that we all must pay our required taxes. The IRS has responded that virtual currency is treated as property, this means that all gains or losses are measured on the cost at original acquisition, and the gains and losses are realized at disposition in part or whole of the virtual currency. Thus, the only way to measure the spread between acquisition and disposition is by having records that support your reporting for tax purposes. Setting up your wallets with structured holdings can allow you to manage how much gain or loss could be recognized in real time before you use your cryptocurrency. Recognizing what cost basis layers you are spending from and even exchanging your cost basis through fluctuations in market valuation. As virtual currency is defined as property the wash sale rules that apply to investments do not apply to cryptocurrency. The Wash-Sale Rule states that, if an investment is sold at a loss and then repurchased within 30 days, the initial loss cannot be claimed for tax purposes. However, as this does not apply to virtual currencies one can sell their cryptocurrency with a higher cost basis than the current market value and then repurchase the cryptocurrency immediately to maintain the asset portfolio and fully recognize the loss against any gains during the tax year. Additionally, where losses exceed gains, individuals can offset up to $3,000 against personal income for the current tax year. This makes setting up your wallets very advantageous. And the offset can be true as well, as the markets are improving and you are in the early loss stages of a start up swapping out low cost basis cryptocurrency for a higher cost basis cryptocurrency can allow you to capture all of your losses to offset any gains from your disposition of cryptocurrency.
An additional benefit of setting up wallets is that you can more easily organize expenses and business departments allowing direct funding for spending on operational expenses an allowing for real time tracking. This can lower your tax preparation bill allowing the business to recapture more money on a net basis for research and development tax credits, work opportunity tax credits, or healthcare and retirement plan credits. By having wallets set up that are paying only for these costs neither you nor your tax preparer will have to dig through all your business transactions to identify which ones qualify and which are excluded. This reduces your tax preparation bill and allows you to keep more money in the business. Organizing your wallets for each department also allows you to recognize additional security and control over your digital assets. Who your grant movement access to within your company can leave you open to security risks, the more accessible, the easier it is to address a need but at the same time the easier it is for a threat to gain access to your wallets also. Having wallets set up for each department allows you to fund expenses for that business purpose while only putting at risk each wallet individually, rather than your larger operational holdings.
All of these provide greater insight and operational efficiencies to you as a business, for your growth goals, and for your bottom line. Reaching out to financial consultants or reviewing the setup yourself is an important step for future success.