Title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income de minimis gains from certain sales or exchanges of virtual currency, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to exclude from gross income up to $600 (adjusted for inflation after 2018) in gain from the sale or exchange of virtual currency for other than cash or cash equivalents. "Virtual currency" is a digital representation of value that is used as a medium of exchange and is not otherwise currency under provisions of the IRC related to foreign currency transactions.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3708 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3708

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income 
 de minimis gains from certain sales or exchanges of virtual currency, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 7, 2017

  Mr. Schweikert (for himself and Mr. Polis) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income 
 de minimis gains from certain sales or exchanges of virtual currency, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. VIRTUAL CURRENCY.

    (a) In General.--Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 
139F the following new section:

``SEC. 139G. GAIN FROM SALE OR EXCHANGE OF VIRTUAL CURRENCY.

    ``(a) In General.--Gross income shall not include gain from the 
sale or exchange of virtual currency for other than cash or cash 
equivalents.
    ``(b) Limitation.--
            ``(1) In general.--The amount of gain excluded from gross 
        income under subsection (a) with respect to a sale or exchange 
        shall not exceed $600.
            ``(2) Aggregation rule.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        all sales or exchanges which are part of the same transaction 
        (or a series of related transactions) shall be treated as one 
        sale or exchange.
    ``(c) Virtual Currency.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`virtual currency' means a digital representation of value that is used 
as a medium of exchange and is not otherwise currency under section 
988.
    ``(d) Inflation Adjustment.--In the case of any taxable year 
beginning in a calendar year after 2018, the dollar amount in 
subsection (b) shall be increased by an amount equal to--
            ``(1) such dollar amount, multiplied by
            ``(2) the cost-of-living adjustment determined under 
        section 1(f)(3) for the calendar year in which the taxable year 
        begins, determined by substituting `calendar year 2017' for 
        `calendar year 1992' in subparagraph (B) thereof.
Any increase determined under the preceding sentence shall be rounded 
to the nearest multiple of $50.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for part III of 
subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by inserting after 
the item relating to section 139F the following new item:

``Sec. 139G. Gain from sale or exchange of virtual currency.''.
    (c) Reporting of Gains or Losses.--The Secretary shall issue 
regulations providing for information returns on virtual currency 
transactions for which gain or loss is recognized.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to transactions entered into after December 31, 
2017.
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