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Professional Crypto Gain Calculations

Couple reviewing their crypto tax information together on a laptop

Want your crypto income calculated correctly?

Let our team do it for you. Get results that can be defended before the IRS.

We have defended over 50 taxpayers in IRS audits. 40% resulted in refunds to taxpayers. Five times we challenged the IRS crypto calculations in court, and we won all five challenges.

Our crypto forensic analysts average over five years of experience.

Four ways to calculate your crypto gains

Video coming soon.
Ira, Senior Manager of Crypto Analytics and Enrolled Agent at CryptoTaxAudit
Ira Senior Manager of Crypto Analytics ยท EA

Meet our crypto gain calculation management team

Ira leads crypto tax analysis and review at CryptoTaxAudit, overseeing gain calculation engagements from start to finish and reviewing results for accuracy, compliance and audit readiness.

See our verified reviews on

We calculate the crypto figures you need to file

95% of those doing their own gain calculation significantly overstate their gains. As a result, they pay too much in taxes.

Is this a problem with the software? No. The issues are missing records, missing cost basis, and user inexperience.

It can take a professional as much as 12 hours to complete a gain calculation for a small, basic client. An amateur would need to spend even more hours to get a correct answer.

Four primary methods to determine your crypto gains and income

Video coming soon.

When should you consider hiring CryptoTaxAudit to do a professional gain calculation?

Couple discussing their crypto gain calculations with a tax specialist on a video call

Simply put, when the financial risk of being wrong in an IRS audit is greater than the risk of being right.

Every trader is different, and we offer fixed-price quotations for calculating your gains. Generally speaking, we charge:

  • $2,500 for basic investors with two exchanges.
  • $6,500 for medium-size high-frequency traders with moderate exposure to advanced DeFi.
  • $11,000 for large high-frequency traders with extensive exposure to DeFi.

Discuss your crypto gains

Couple reviewing documents while reconstructing missing crypto transaction records

Need Your Crypto Gains Calculated?

Trades across multiple exchanges, wallets or DeFi platforms need to be brought into one transaction history. Our analysts classify the activity, reconcile transfers and calculate your capital gains, losses and crypto income. They review the completed figures before you use them for tax filing.

How our gain calculations work

Transcript

Why Crypto Gain Calculations Can Be Wrong

(Clinton Donnelly, Founder of CryptoTaxAudit)

If you trade crypto, you know this moment. You load your exchange data into a tax tool, and it hands you a gain number that makes your stomach drop. A number you know is wrong. Nearly everyone I talk to who uses these tools is frustrated, and too many just give up. They stop filing or stop reporting crypto at all. That's the worst outcome of all. I'm Clinton Donnelly with CryptoTaxAudit. Let me tell you two true stories about a better way.

A client of ours was a blockchain professional. He understood the technology inside and out. A popular crypto tax online tool said he'd made $140,000 in gains. He said, "Clinton, there's no way I made that much." I ask him, "How much do you think you made?" "Somewhere between $80,000. If we split the difference, $90,000, and you paid tax on that, would you feel you'd paid your fair share?" "Yes, I would." So that's what we filed.

[On-screen graphic: "Amount filed: $90,000. Final calculation: $89,000. Client was $1,000 off. Software estimate: $140,000. Software was $51,000 off."]

Later, when we finished the full gain calculation, the real number came in at $89,000. His gut was off by $1,000. The software was off by $51,000. So trust your intuition. I'm not saying pull a number out of thin air. In tax law, we call it a reasonable good faith estimate. And nobody understands your trading better than you do. Even a professional holding every transaction record is working hard to rebuild what you already know.

At CryptoTaxAudit, we've defended over fifty clients in IRS audits. We've taken five of those cases to US Tax Court, and we've won every single time. The secret? In an audit, you're not defending the number on your return. The agent builds his own number. He hopes his number results in an increase in net taxes you owe, plus interest and penalties. Our job is to show where his is wrong. That's how we win again and again.

[On-screen text: "The agent builds a separate tax calculation. Our job is to check it."]

So why are do-it-yourself numbers so often wrong? It's rarely the software. It's holes in the data and inexperience. Our full-time professionals spend about eight hours on even a small client's gain calculation. An investor doing it for the first time knows the trades, but not the accounting. Mistakes are almost guaranteed.

The second story has big numbers, so bear with me. A high-frequency trader heavy into DeFi spent hours with the VIP full-service team at another popular crypto tax online tool. Their professionals were dead certain: $120 million in gains. He called me and said, "Clinton, there's no way I made $120 million."

[On-screen graphic: "Another tool's estimate: $120M in reported gains." Trader: "No way."]

"How much do you think you made?" "Between forty and eighty million," he said. "If we split the difference, sixty million dollars, and you paid tax on that, would you feel you'd paid your fair share?" "Yes," he said.

It was late in the filing season, so that's exactly what we reported. When the full calculation was done, $61 million. The professionals were off by nearly sixty million dollars. He was off by one. So if a number, even a professional's, doesn't ring true, don't file it.

When is it worth paying for a professional gain calculation? If you had a net loss, don't spend the money. You can only deduct three thousand dollars of capital losses a year anyway. But if you had gains and your estimate is twenty-five thousand or more away from the tool's number, a professional calculation will usually pay for itself. That's the deferral method. File on your reasonable good faith estimate of what you actually made. Finish the detailed math later.

[On-screen graphic: "When a professional calculation makes sense." Net loss: "Skip the professional calculation." Gains: "$25,000+ difference from the tax tool's figure. A professional calculation may pay for itself."]

And if you're ever audited, get a professional to defend you and settle any difference with the IRS. That's fair. And if you haven't been filing, this is your way back in. Start filing and pay an amount you believe in. Got a complicated situation? Schedule a call. Let's make a plan that's right for you.

Crypto software review with Ira and clients

Missing record reconstruction

Missing cost basis, closed exchanges and unmatched wallet transfers can leave gaps in your transaction history. Our analysts use available exchange exports and wallet activity to trace transfers, reconstruct missing entries and reconcile the records used to calculate your crypto gains, losses and income.

How we reconstruct missing crypto records

Video coming soon.

Questions about Crypto Gain Calculations

What does the crypto gain calculation service include?

We reconcile your crypto transaction history and calculate the capital gains, losses and other taxable crypto income needed for tax filing.

The service can include trades, transfers, exchanges, wallets, missing cost basis, foreign platforms, DeFi, staking, NFTs, airdrops and other on-chain activity. Your completed results are prepared for use in your tax return.

What records do I need to provide?

Provide the transaction records available from your exchanges, wallets and other crypto platforms. This may include exchange exports, wallet activity and other records showing your trades, transfers and crypto income.

If some records are incomplete or unavailable, tell us when you get started so the team can determine what reconstruction work may be required.

What if I am missing transaction records or cost basis?

Missing records do not automatically prevent us from completing your calculations. Our team can work through incomplete transaction histories, missing cost basis, closed exchanges and unmatched wallet transfers.

Depending on the available data, reconstruction may use wallet activity, blockchain records and partial exchange histories to rebuild the information needed for the calculation.

Can you review results from crypto tax software?

Yes. If you have already used crypto tax software but the results do not look reliable, we can review the underlying transaction data and reconciliation issues.

Where needed, our analysts can rebuild or recalculate the figures rather than relying only on the software output you received.

Can you handle DeFi, multiple wallets and complex activity?

Yes. We work with multi-exchange and multi-wallet transaction histories as well as complex on-chain activity.

This can include DeFi protocols, staking, liquidity pools, NFTs, airdrops, bots, wrapping, rebasing and high-volume transaction histories.

How is the price for my calculation determined?

Gain calculation work is priced on a fixed upfront basis. We confirm the cost before the calculation work begins.

Pricing depends on the scope of your crypto activity, including the number of exchanges and wallets, transaction volume and the complexity of the records that need to be reconciled.

Talk to our crypto calculation team about your records and the scope of the work.

Will I review the completed results with your team?

Yes. A review of your completed results is included as part of the gain calculation service.

The completed figures can then be used for tax filing, whether CryptoTaxAudit prepares your return or you provide the results to another tax preparer.

Does this service include preparation of my tax return?

No. Crypto gain calculations and tax return preparation are separate services.

The gain calculation service prepares the crypto figures needed for tax filing. If you also want CryptoTaxAudit to prepare your individual U.S. tax return, you can explore Express Return if your tax situation meets the eligibility requirements.

What happens after my crypto calculations are complete?

Once your figures are complete, they are ready to be used in your tax return.

If you need your current individual return prepared, Express Return may be the next step if you meet the eligibility requirements.

If you also want ongoing IRS account monitoring or representation services after filing, you can explore Tax Shield .

Need your tax return prepared as well?

Once your crypto gain calculations are complete, the figures can be used to prepare your tax return. The right tax preparation service depends on the complexity of your return.

Express Return

Starting from $850

If your crypto gain calculations are complete and your individual U.S. tax return meets the Express requirements, you can move directly into tax return preparation.

Explore Express Return

More complex tax return

Starting from $XX

If your return includes business income, rental properties, K-1s, royalties or other complexity, our tax team can help determine the appropriate return preparation service.

Talk to our tax team