Some people here are in the unfortunate position of having been furloughed or recently lost their jobs due to the pandemic, but are in the highly fortunate position of having well appreciated Bitcoin holdings that can be sold to pay your living expenses. In the US this situation presents a minor tax risk in that you might not be expecting.
The IRS (and many states) require that you make payments through the year which total either 90% of your tax obligations or 100%* of last years taxes (* 110% if your AGI is over 150k). If you don't meet these requirements and owe $1000 or more in taxes there is an underpayment penalty of roughly 0.5% per month under paid plus interest (recently around 5% but it may drop to 3.25% due to the federal funds rate changing). When you have an ordinary job payroll tax deductions mostly take care of meeting your obligations, or at least getting close to them.
However, if you lose your job and start living off selling Bitcoin you'll owe taxes on your capital gains and you won't have payroll withholdings. Any time you have large capital gains the same sort of risk exists but the combination of gains plus having lost your payroll withholding create an increased risk of large penalties.
To address this you're supposed to make quarterly tax payments.
Perhaps you're unable to do so. A tax penalty isn't the end of the world. Maybe because of the pandemic they'll wave or lower penalties (they have done so in the past when changes in taxes left many people under-withheld)-- I wouldn't count on it, it's better. Regardless, better to be forewarned so you can incorporate it in your planning!
Submitted April 20, 2020 at 01:11PM by nullc https://bit.ly/3cBHebN
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