California Residency Tax Planning
The fortunes currently being made in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investments and trading offer unique opportunities for tax planning that other appreciated assets often do not. This article discusses one of those aspects: the importance of residency planning in reducing cryptocurrency tax liability at the state level.
What Makes Cryptocurrency Conducive To Residency Tax Planning?
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are unique assets in many ways. But for residency tax planning purposes, these three factors make all the difference.
First, much of the taxable gain in appreciated cryptocurrency investment remains unrealized – that is to say, the investors have yet to sell or exchange their initial investment. This is due to the volatile nature of cryptocurrency values, but it’s also a result of the second factor.
Second, unlike traditional investments, the Bitcoin phenomenon has been driven by young disruptive investors, not the usual Wall Street sages with briefcases stuffed with earnings-to-value reports. Many of my clients made relatively small investments, either directly or through mining, in their early twenties, and now, as they enter their thirties, they find themselves sitting on millions or even tens of millions of untaxed appreciated cryptocurrency. Because younger people tend to be mobile, they can move anywhere before cashing out. Which brings us to the third factor. Continue reading