Cryptocurrency and the IRS Criminal Investigation

Cryptocurrency has been a hot topic the past few years as it has gained widespread popularity and the IRS seeks to require better taxpayer compliance and 3rd party reporting. For example the 2021 Form 1040 has a cryptocurrency question for all taxpayers to check off on page 1 right below your name and address. Last month the WSJ reported on one of the world's biggest seizures - $3.6 billion in stolen BitCoins. IRS CI agents worked with DOJ and were able to finally crack the case. Below is a link to a short pod cast called The Journal as part of the WSJ that talks about the case. There are a couple of brief commercials in the podcast that you can ignore or just fast forward through. The podcast itself is about 15 minutes. Listen through it as it is pretty interesting how this case played out.

As an accounting student, you have many career options. Working as a Revenue Agent at the IRS is one of those options and working in the CI (Criminal Investigation) area is a very interesting combination of law enforcement and accounting. Below is a March update of the type of work that CI has been conducting.

Instructions: Listen to the Podcast and review overview of CI using links below: Comment on your impressions of the virtual currency/seizure and what CI is working on. Perhaps this is something to consider in your future.

Journal Podcast: https://www(dot)wsj(dot)com/podcasts/the-journal/how-the-government-tied-one-couple-to-billions-in-stolen-bitcoin/ad579c04-a43b-4a95-8872-7665da330135?page=1 (Links to an external site.)

IRS Spotlight on CI March 2022: https://www(dot)irs(dot)gov/newsroom/irs-spotlights-criminal-investigation-law-enforcement