The Audit Trail is a CSV that gives you a line-by-line record of every taxable disposal in your tax report for a given year. For each disposal, it shows exactly how the gain or loss was calculated - the cost basis, proceeds, acquisition and disposal dates and prices, and where each price came from.
Think of it as the supporting math behind every calculation on your tax report.
Why would I want the Audit Trail?
The Audit Trail exists to back up your methodology. If the IRS or your tax professional ever asks how your gains or losses were calculated, this is the report that documents the answer for each individual disposal.
The audit trail is a supporting document, not a filing form. The Tax Reports you should use to report your crypto on your taxes are the Form 8949 or the Schedule 1. The Audit Trail supports the numbers on your Form 8949's, but it doesn't replace them. Learn more here.
š” If you work with a tax professional, the Audit Trail is a useful file to hand over alongside your Form 8949 so they can see the full methodology behind your figures.
What's in the file?
The Audit Trail is a CSV with one row for each disposal in a given tax year. Each row includes:
Asset and Amount
Cost Basis, Proceeds, Term (short or long), and a Running Gain Total
Acquisition Type, Acquisition Date, Acquisition Price, and Acquisition Price Source
Disposal Type, Disposal Date, Disposal Price, and Disposal Price Source
A plain-English Description of the lot
A Unique Asset Identifier
Here's how the transaction shows up in the UI instead:
You might notice the numbers in the UI don't always match the CSV calculations. That's because one big transaction can actually be made up of several smaller acquisition lots being sold off. Our software groups these together to keep things simple and cut down on the billable transactions, but don't worry, every single disposal is still fully tracked in the Audit Trail CSV.
How do I download the Audit Trail?
Step 1
Head to the Tax Reports page in your CoinLedger account. Then, select the tax year you want using the dropdown menu at the top of the screen.
Step 2
Next, open the Tax Report Downloads menu and select CSV Reports. You'll find the Audit Trail at the bottom of this window, as shown below.
Step 3
Click Generate next to Audit Trail, then download the report once it is available.
Note that you'll need to generate a separate Audit Trail for each tax year on your CoinLedger account.
šØ The Audit Trail is meant as a supplemental document for you or your tax professional's records. Once exported, it can't be uploaded or re-imported back into CoinLedger.
Still have questions? Reach out to our Support Team - we're happy to help!