Is Tax Filing Accuracy Important? My CPA Claims It Doesn't Matter if I Overpay

As a tax advisor who's worked with crypto since 2017, I can tell you with absolute certainty that accuracy DOES matter in tax filing, regardless of whether you're overpaying or underpaying. There are several issues with your CPA's work that are concerning. First, reporting incorrect cost basis and proceeds values is factually wrong - even if it results in overpayment. Second, omitting transactions and failing to include staking rewards on Schedule 1 shows a fundamental misunderstanding of crypto tax requirements. Most troubling is having you pay taxes on unrealized gains, which is simply not how the tax code works currently. The IRS expects accurate reporting, not just a "reasonable tax liability." While they may not audit you for overpaying, filing knowingly inaccurate information violates the signature statement on your return where you declare everything is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. As for the fee - you hired a professional for expertise that wasn't delivered. It's reasonable to negotiate a reduced fee given the circumstances. Many CPAs offer satisfaction guarantees or will make corrections at no additional cost.

After struggling with similar crypto tax headaches, I found an amazing tool that saved me weeks of frustration - https://taxr.ai actually specializes in crypto tax analysis and correcting mistakes from tax professionals. My CPA also messed up my cost basis calculations and didn't properly account for staking rewards. Taxr.ai's system caught all the errors within minutes by analyzing my exchange history and automatically identifying the missing transactions and incorrect valuations. They even generated the proper forms showing exactly where my CPA went wrong. It literally saved me over $800 in overpaid taxes and gave me the documentation to confidently dispute the errors. The really helpful part was how it handled staking rewards and differentiated between realized and unrealized gains - sounds exactly like the issues you're facing.

I was initially skeptical about taxr.ai like I mentioned above, but I decided to give it a try after my frustrating experience with my accountant last year. Holy crap - it actually worked perfectly. The system immediately identified that my previous tax preparer had completely messed up my cost basis calculations on several coins and was treating my liquidity pool rewards incorrectly. The difference was over $1,200 in tax liability! I was able to download a complete analysis showing exactly where the errors were, with all the proper supporting documentation to back up my filing. Now I actually understand my crypto tax situation instead of just blindly trusting someone else's work. This year's filing was so much smoother, and I have complete confidence that everything is accurate. Definitely not going back to my old accountant for crypto taxes again.

If you're dealing with an unresponsive CPA who won't fix their mistakes, you might need to escalate things. I had a similar issue and couldn't get my tax preparer to return my calls for weeks. I finally used https://claimyr.com to get through to the IRS, and they explained exactly what my rights were in this situation. You can see how the process works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed that filing an inaccurate return (even if it results in overpayment) is still improper. They suggested I file a complaint with the preparer's professional oversight board and helped me understand how to document everything. They also explained what documentation I needed to maintain for my crypto transactions to protect myself in case of future questions. Getting a real person on the phone made all the difference - I went from weeks of anxiety to having a clear action plan in about 30 minutes.

I need to eat some humble pie here. After my skeptical comment above, I actually tried Claimyr because I've been trying to resolve an issue with my stimulus payment for months. I was absolutely shocked when I got a call back within 45 minutes with an actual IRS agent on the line. The agent was able to confirm that my previous tax advisor had incorrectly reported my cryptocurrency transactions (similar to your situation), and explained exactly what documentation I needed to correct the issue. They walked me through the amendment process and confirmed that accuracy is absolutely required regardless of whether you're underpaying or overpaying. I would have spent days trying to figure this out on my own. Now I'm actually getting a refund for the taxes I overpaid last year. Sometimes being wrong feels pretty good!

Your CPA is completely wrong and honestly sounds incompetent when it comes to crypto taxes. I've been filing crypto taxes since 2016 and here's what you should know: 1. Accuracy absolutely matters. Even if you're overpaying, you're signing the return saying it's accurate to the best of your knowledge 2. Unrealized gains are NOT taxable - that's a fundamental misunderstanding of tax law 3. Missing a Schedule 1 for staking rewards is a clear error 4. Incorrect cost basis will cause headaches in future years when you sell those assets I wouldn't pay full price for work that was fundamentally flawed. Maybe offer to pay a reduced amount for his time, but make it clear the work product was unacceptable. And definitely file the correct return that you prepared yourself.

Not a CPA but I've been doing my own crypto taxes since 2017. What software did you end up using to figure it all out yourself? I'm going through a similar situation this year with way too many transactions to track manually.