Coinbase User Asks Federal Court to Stop IRS Bitcoin Subpoena
A Coinbase customer has gone to court to stop the Internal Revenue Service from subpoenaing user data from the bitcoin and ether exchange startup. According to new filings dated 13th December, Los Angeles-based lawyer Jeffrey Berns has disputed the legitimacy of the IRS effort to obtain two years’ worth of user records. The IRS pursuit of a ‘John Doe’ summons, begun last month, was approved by US Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on 30th November. Berns – who is being represented by the firm for which he is a managing partner, according to LinkedIn – is asking the court to invalidate its....
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An effort by the US Internal Revenue Service to obtain user records from digital currency exchange Coinbase may take months to resolve. The IRS filed a petition last week in federal court, seeking court approval to subpoena data on customers who bought or sold bitcoin from Coinbase during the period between December 2013 and December 2015. Court filings indicate that no significant action is expected until mid-February. An initial case management conference has been scheduled for 16th February in San Francisco, with 26th January being the last day the two sides could meet to hammer out a....
An attempt by the IRS to obtain user records from digital currency exchange Coinbase just got more complicated. Court documents filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California this week show that lawyers for the California-based startup have filed to officially intervene in the case. The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) launched its case in late November, seeking court approval for a subpoena that would allow it to obtain information on US users (and, in its eyes, potential tax cheats) who used the service between 2013 and 2015. A month later, Coinbase customer Jeffrey....
Coinbase, which faces an IRS subpoena to disclose records on all of its U.S. customers, wants customers to know that while the company has chosen to fight the IRS on releasing customer information, it remains committed to complying with tax reporting requirements. Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO and co-founder, clarified the company’s position in a recent Medium post in which he appealed to the IRS to work with Coinbase and suggested a tax reporting form that Charles Schwab and Fidelity use might be a solution. On December 1, a federal judge approved an IRS summons and demanded Coinbase....
In a precedent-setting victory for the United States tax authorities, a California federal court has ruled in favor of the IRS serving Coinbase Inc. with a “John Doe” summons. The IRS requires the approval of a federal court in order to issue said summons, which covers virtually all Coinbase users who were clients from 2013 to 2015. The extent of this back-door surveillance is stunning in its depth and scope. Let’s review what the official “John Doe” summons requires of Coinbase: “Complete user profile, history of changes to user profile from account inception, complete user preferences,....
This past week saw yet another move in the ongoing scuffle between the IRS and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. If you haven't been following the story, here’s a summary: In November, the IRS presented Coinbase with a summons requiring the company to disclose client transactions between 2013 and 2015. Coinbase has hinted that they'd rather not. Shortly thereafter, a Coinbase customer presented a motion against the IRS, alleging the subpoena was too broad. This week, the IRS responded, saying what effectively amounted to "go away". It claims that since this client has identified....