In the Black: November 2025

Skeleton Crews at the IRS and some crypto homework

With the government shut down, the IRS has furloughed more than half of its staff. That’s in addition to the DOGE cuts earlier this year. Last Friday, some of the remaining workers were issued a RIF notice (Reduction In Force), informing them that their last day will be December 9th.
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What does this mean? You’ll need to be especially patient if you are trying to call or waiting for a response. Am I worried about the coming tax season? I sure am. Usually, the IRS would spend the next two months completing and testing systems to handle next year's tax-filing season.

1099-DA’s are coming!

If you have a kink for crypto, then you'll likely be getting a new tax form in January. Starting this year, crypto sales, exchanges, or other dispositions will be reported to the IRS and you this new tax form which you’ll receive in January. Here’s the catch (you knew this was coming, right?), the platform/wallet/broker, etc. that issues this to you might not have all your information, especially the amount you PAID to buy that crypto in the first place.
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My recommendation: CHECK your wallet/platform and check if you have all your ‘buy’ price or basis listed. If not, work on tracking that down NOW before that form arrives in January and it’s a mad scramble. Why? Because you are only going to pay taxes on your crypto gains (i.e., what you sold it for minus what you bought it for), if you don’t have records to back up your initial purchase, you could end up paying more taxes than you need to. No, thank you.