RE: So You Made Some sbd, What Next? The Shift Debit Card
Congrats on being able to pull some money out of the system and see real life rewards for your efforts.
There are other ways to do this that might be better, but the way that works isn't bad. Only thing I would suggest avoiding is small BTC transactions due to their fees. I never send less then 0.1 BTC or I feel the fees are crazy high.
Also keep in mind you now have a very real "paper trail" of that income. You will need to pay taxes. If all your SBD is from rewards it's probably all considered earned income until you converted to BTC. If the BTC goes up in value before you spend it then you have profits to claim also. This is why I prefer single cash outs vs using a card, way to much to keep track of if I make 20 transactions with BTC and need to figure out the value each time. Verify everything with your accountant.
Thank you for your comment!! :) Still so much to learn... Ah yes, taxes. :P I haven't even considered that yet. My father in law is our "accountant" and does our taxes haha...I'll have to ask him about this.
New tax law this year (assuming your in the US) makes like kind exchanges for crypto no longer an option. There is also some other issue addressed that need to be looked at by your accountant.
Honestly any income earned has always been taxable. The hard part is SBD change in value so much, but are pegged at $1 USD. They don't have a way to force the price down when it's out of whack on the up side, but if it's to low say 75 cents then you can convert SBD for Steem internally and this helps make sure that the price is never below $1 USD. Currently there isn't a way to force the price back down, but the witnesses are discussing the issue currently. Personally don't think they will do anything as high SBD means more money in author rewards and most the top witnesses greatly benefit from this.
Either way you need to understand you tax implications for each move you make before you do something that will really effect you tax wise. $100 transaction isn't a big deal if you don't plan for it, but do that a few times this year and you could be looking at a big chunk of taxes owed.
Thanks for commenting, I appreciate your thoughts on this matter. :) I am in the us, but I really don't think I have anything to worry about with the little lemonade stand I got going here. It's not like I have a lemonade franchise haha if you know what I mean. Besides, we usually get a good tax return, and if the IRS sees me as an asset to them, they can take it from there. In essence, I don't think my measly earnings will matter.
"but I really don't think I have anything to worry about with the little lemonade stand I got going here. "
This is the exact type of mentality that ends up with people having serious issues. Between penalties and interest you can end up paying more then you earned if they look back at old returns and find unclaimed income.
This isn't about them finding just you, the IRS is actively looking into people earning crypto and figuring out how to get ALL of the taxes they are owed. So the second they go after people earning steem everyone gets caught. There are plenty of big fish earning thousands a week here and I'm sure some of them aren't claiming any of it. That means they have a very real reason to target this platform at some point.
The IRS can look back 3 years unless they find fraud (like unclaimed income) and then they can go back 7 years. If not paying your taxes on a few hundred dollars is worth that risk then that is your call, but trust me you are not an asset to the IRS.
Definitely food for thought. Have you written a post about this? I think it would be a great idea if you haven't yet. It would warn others against being too careless with their rewards.
I haven't, but think it's a good idea. Will do this, thank you.