CoinLedger is not a financial institution or investment institution, and we do not report ANY information to the IRS. For this reason, a Federal ID number is not needed to file your crypto taxes using CoinLedger. All that is needed to do your taxes is the IRS Form 8949 we provide, and the Income Report which can be used to report your income from crypto.
What is a Federal ID number?
A federal identification number is the general term for an individual's social security number or a businesses' employer identification number. These numbers are used on official tax forms like W-2s and 1099s.
Who is required to provide you with their Federal ID number?
Your employer or a crypto exchange (also referred to as a broker) may be required to provide you with a Federal ID number. CoinLedger is not.
Form 1099 is used to report non-employment income (income you receive outside of your job) to the IRS. Many crypto exchanges will issue both you and the IRS a 1099 at the start of every tax season. These forms are filed by brokers - exchanges like Coinbase - to let both the IRS and the taxpayer know what income was earned on their platform so that taxpayers can correctly report this income on their tax return.
If you receive a 1099 from a crypto exchange, their Federal ID number will likely be on it. Likewise, if you receive a W2 from your employer showing your wages earned for the year, your employer's ID number will be included on this form.
Since CoinLedger is not a crypto exchange or financial institution, and does not report any information to the IRS, we are not required to issue you a 1099 - and do not have to provide you with a Federal ID number. Indeed, this number is not even needed to do your crypto taxes using CoinLedger.
When do I need a Federal ID number to file my taxes?
If you are reporting your wages from a job, or are reporting your 1099 from a crypto exchange directly to the IRS, you may need a Federal ID number to file your taxes. Learn why it's best to use a software like CoinLedger as opposed to reporting your 1099 directly here.
CoinLedger cannot provide you with a crypto exchange's Federal ID number. You will need to reach out to the exchange directly for this.
Do I need CoinLedger's Federal ID number to do my crypto taxes?
No, you do not. CoinLedger is not a broker nor a cryptocurrency exchange, and thus is not the entity required by law to file 1099’s to you and the IRS. Rather, we consolidate your entire crypto transaction history, across all of the wallets and exchanges you have used, to produce comprehensive, IRS-compliant tax reports, which you can use to report your crypto on your taxes. Furthermore, CoinLedger does not report ANY information to the IRS.
If we were a crypto broker or an institution that reports your information to the IRS, you might need our Federal ID number to do your taxes - however, we are neither of these. For this reason, a Federal ID number is NOT needed to do your crypto taxes with CoinLedger.
What do I need to do my taxes with CoinLedger?
You do not need a Federal ID number to do your crypto taxes using CoinLedger. All you need is the IRS Form 8949 and the Income Report.
There are two main categories for reporting crypto on your taxes in the United States - capital gains are reported on the Form 8949 while crypto income (crypto acquired from staking, mining, interest, airdrop, forks, payments) is reported on various other IRS forms. If you received any crypto income this year then you should also download the Income Report.
Please see this guide to learn which forms are needed to do your crypto taxes.