Hey, IRS: Here are some Bitcoin users who might need help paying their taxes

It’s tax season, which means that people all over America are nervously meeting with their accountants or sitting down with TurboTax, trying to figure out how much they owe Uncle Sam this year.

For law-abiding Bitcoin fans, tax season can be especially stressful. The IRS’s guidelines for virtual currencies, laid down last year, classified Bitcoin as property for federal tax purposes. That means that, just as with any other financial asset, Bitcoin users are required to pay taxes whenever they sell or exchange Bitcoin for a gain.

As Steven Rosenthal of the Tax Policy Center notes, the IRS’s classification also means that Bitcoin users are triggering capital gains taxes whenever they buy anything with Bitcoin, if the value of their holdings has increased since the time of their initial purchase. (So, for example: if I buy a $10 pizza with a Bitcoin I originally bought for $2, I would owe capital gains taxes on the $8 difference.) These rules are complex, and require meticulous bookkeeping. So it’s natural that some U.S.-based Bitcoiners—especially the more libertarian-leaning ones—might be tempted to, shall we say, use flexible accounting methods.

Of course, Bitcoiners would never knowingly dodge their tax duties. (And, since Bitcoin had such a horrible year in 2014, it’s possible that many of them have incurred capital losses, which they wouldn’t owe taxes on.) But just in case the IRS—or anyone else—would like to lend a helping hand, here are a few people who made Bitcoin purchases in 2014, and might need a little extra assistance settling this year’s tax bills:

The Winklevoss Twins