Havent Checked On That Bitcoin Account In A While? Your State Could Have It Liquidated – Forbes

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If you know you have an old bitcoin or dogecoin account somewhere but havent gotten around the digging up your login information, you may have a nasty surprise waiting for you.

With the rise of cryptocurrency, nine states have now adopted rules that include it as a form of unclaimed property and several more are requiring or recommending that companies report their unclaimed virtual currency. That means that this fall, when banks, insurers, retailers and state government agencies are required to annually report and remit any unclaimed funds, your old cryptocurrency account could be liquidated and turned in to the states unclaimed property office.

There are a lot of concerns about this possibility, not the least of which is the fact that liquidating a cryptocurrency account prevents the owner from realizing any future gains.

But theres also a larger economic issue, says Kristine Butterbaugh a solution principal,at the tax firm Sovos.

Some of our clients dont want to liquidate these accounts because it could have an impact on the market as a whole, she says. Were talking millions of accounts, potentially, across the country.

Whats muddling things is a lack of clarity on the rules around cryptocurrency. Unclaimed property law is written for traditional property but now its being enforced for non-traditional property.

Heres how unclaimed property law usually works: Every fall, businesses are required to remit any unclaimed property to the state. For accounts and other financial instruments to be considered unclaimed, they have to be dormant for three to five years, depending on the state. That means the account holder hasnt accessed the account or responded to any communications. Once the account is deemed unclaimed, it gets transferred to the states general fund.

Thats all well and good when were talking about a traditional bank account that is sitting around earning minimal if any interest. But states arent equipped to hold cryptocurrency, so theyre telling firms to turn those accounts into cash before handing them over.

Now lets say you watched the meteoric rise of dogecoin this past spring and decided to go hunting for those coins you invested in on a whim a few years ago. And when you finally tracked them down you discovered your account was liquidated back in November, robbing you of thousands of dollars in potential earnings? Youd probably be pretty angry.

Companies are in a really uncomfortable position because theyre unsure whether or not they should be liquidating for fear of owner retribution down the road, says Butterbaugh. And then you have the state saying, You have to, even if its not explicitly in the statute.

States are also motivated to enforce unclaimed property laws because its a revenue gain for them. Although the state keeps track of the amount due and the rightful owner can still eventually claim the moneyat any time, states in the meantime can use the money for their general operations. This may seem like a gamble, but only about 2% of unclaimed property ever gets returned to the true owner, according to Accounting Today.

Delaware home to more than a million companies is one of the most aggressive states when it comes to auditing companies on unclaimed property law compliance and has secured hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade in unclaimed property and fines.

So, companies are stuck between not wanting to get dinged for noncompliance and being afraid to liquidate a cryptocurrency account. They want more clarity on what to do and Butterbaugh says two places New York and Washington, D.C. are working on a solution.

But in the meantime, she advises companies dealing in cryptocurrency to start addressing their dormant accounts now.

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Havent Checked On That Bitcoin Account In A While? Your State Could Have It Liquidated - Forbes