Frequently asked.

An indicator is a specific check the audit runs against your data. v1 includes eight: a reconciliation triangle (does your CoinTracking total tie to what’s on your return), a method-shopping check (did your cost-basis method change between years without disclosure), a price-source check (do your transaction prices match best available), a zero-basis disposal check (do disposals with no basis have documentation behind them), an internal-transfer-as-trade check (did a wallet-to-wallet move get coded as a taxable trade), and three Per-Wallet migration checks (was the 12/31/2024 IRS Per-Wallet deadline cleanly handled). Each indicator is graded FLAG, WARN, INFO, or PASS. The methodology versions over time — more indicators activate in later releases.

No. v1 covers eight of thirty catalogued indicators. Some scenarios aren’t checked yet: NFT-specific issues, multi-account contamination across personal and entity returns, validator-income patterns, bankruptcy-claim treatment, and foreign-asset reporting. The eight v1 indicators were chosen because they detect from CoinTracking exports alone — the data nearly everyone already has. The other twenty-two activate as we build out parsers and rule sets in v1.1+.

Any tax years for which you have CoinTracking data. The eight indicators work both within a single tax year and across multiple years — in fact, several are specifically designed to detect cross-year drift (method shopping, Per-Wallet migration). If you’re amending three years back or auditing a single most-recent return, the same engine runs.

A Position Memorandum is a written defense of your tax positions in your own facts. For each finding, it applies the License + Constructive Receipt framework — the same framework that underpins the methodology — and walks through how the finding interacts with your specific transactions, entity structure, and prior filings. Typically 400–800 words per finding. It’s the memo your CPA, your amended return, or the IRS would ask for.

Your CoinTracking trade list (CSV), your CoinTracking tax report (XLSX), your filed tax-return PDF, and any supporting documentation — exchange statements, accountant correspondence, validator deposit receipts, anchor emails. We parse the CoinTracking exports automatically. You don’t reformat anything.

No. cryptoBASIS never asks for private keys, seed phrases, or exchange API credentials. You upload your CoinTracking exports, your filed tax-return PDFs, and any supporting documentation you want included in the audit — none of which require your keys.

Your data persists for the life of your account. You can request deletion at any time. Files are stored encrypted in Supabase; payment data lives at Stripe and never on our servers. The full retention and processing detail is in our Privacy Policy.

No. cryptoBASIS audits the work you or your tax professional already did — it doesn’t prepare returns. A good CPA is critical once crypto gets non-trivial, and the findings report is built to make their job easier and to make their work easier for you to understand. If you don’t have one, we can suggest where to look.

Findings are observations grounded in the methodology — they’re not verdicts. Your CPA may have facts, judgment calls, or framework interpretations that change the analysis. The Position Memorandum at Tier 3+ is designed to support that conversation rather than win it: it walks through the framework so the two of you can evaluate the finding on its merits. cryptoBASIS surfaces the issue. You and your accountant decide what to do about it.

No. cryptoBASIS is a software product, not a representation service. We don’t sign Form 2848, contact the IRS on your behalf, or appear before Examination or Appeals. The Position Memorandum is documentation you and your representative use during a real audit — but if you need representation, engage a CPA, EA, or tax attorney.