Thomson Reuters, the multinational media conglomerate, announced on Dec. 19 a partnership with Verady, a firm that specializes in the accounting and reporting of cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets. The two companies will collaborate on bringing a new cryptocurrency tax tool to market.
Thomson Reuters GoSystem Tax RS product will soon include a “Virtual Currency Organizer” for individuals reporting cryptocurrency transactions on tax form 1040. According to Thomson Reuters, the tax tool will serve as a single point of data entry and review for virtual currency transactions including exchanges, forks, purchases and payment for services rendered.
This will provide accounting professionals with the correct data necessary when helping clients reconcile cryptocurrency transactions. Moreover, users of Varady’s Ledgible blockchain accounting platform will be able to create reports that are ready for Thomson Reuters’ GoSystem Tax and Ultra Tax products.
Kell Canty, CEO of Verady, told Cointelegraph:
“Once Ledgible users have integrated their wallet and exchange activity, they’ll be able to notify their accounting professionals that the data is ready to go. Tax preparers can then bring that data into the GoSystem Tax product, placing it in the virtual currency organizer.”
According to Canty, Thomson Reuters plans to premier the Virtual Currency Organizer sometime this year. The cryptocurrency tax tool will serve as Thomson Reuters latest crypto-focused product.
The company already provides a price data feed for virtual currencies known as “Cryptocurrency Real Time Rates.” In June of last year, Thomas Reuters also launched a new version of its MarketPsych Indices (TRMI) to include market sentiment data for the top 100 cryptocurrencies.
Reliable Cryptocurrency Data
While the Virtual Currency Organizer will be extremely helpful for crypto holders tackling taxes this year, it remains a challenge to gather trusted data for cryptocurrencies due to their decentralized nature.
Canty explained that a main reason Thomson Reuters formed the partnership with Verady was to ensure that reliable data is acquired.
“Thomson Reuters formed this partnership with us partly due to our impressive background in the field of tracking, reporting, and accounting of cryptocurrency and blockchain assets. This is a huge endorsement for what we are doing to provide integrated reporting of cryptocurrency data across different data sources.”
Canty pointed out that Verady has been helping financial institutions and organizations account for blockchain assets since 2014. He also mentioned that the company helped with the first audit of Bitpay in 2014.
Now, as U.S. regulators continue to pay more attention to virtual assets and tax compliance, Canty noted that Verady will look into other system integrations moving forward.
“We are currently focused on making the collaboration with Thomson Reuters the best in the industry. As other opportunities come about, we will evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.”
Canty also mentioned that one of Verady’s investors, Shanghai-based Fenbushi Capital, has expressed interest in applying Ledgible’s capabilities to the Asian Market.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as other regions across the globe are paying attention to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance regarding virtual currency tax compliance. For instance, 2019 will be the first year that the IRS will explicitly ask taxpayers to document their virtual currency activity, positioning this question at the top of its new IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1.
“We think there are lots of opportunities across the entire industry and globally for the functionality that Verady offers for cryptocurrency taxpayers,” said Canty.
