A crypto tax accountant’s fee depends on record cleanup, the transactions involved, and the return you need filed. Ask for the three parts separately: a transaction count alone will not tell you what the work costs.
What drives the quote?
A thousand well-documented exchange trades can be easier to process than a handful of transfers with no purchase history. The hard part is often reconstructing what you owned, what it cost, and what happened when it moved.
| Cost driver | Extra work | What to bring |
|---|---|---|
| Missing purchase records | No basis to check gains | Purchases, transfers, exchange exports |
| Many wallets and exchanges | Transfers must be matched | Addresses, dated transactions, ownership |
| Staking, mining, business | May need separate reporting | Reward values, dates, business records |
| DeFi | May need case-by-case review | Protocols, transactions, what you received |
| Prior-year mistakes | Amendments may be separate jobs | Filed returns, past calculations |
Ask whether software, reconciliation, and preparation are included in one quote.
For hourly cleanup, request:
- the hourly rate
- the expected range of hours
- a point where the preparer will pause for your approval
That makes an uncertain project easier to budget without pretending the records are already understood.
When can software be enough?
Crypto tax software can import transactions and calculate gains when it supports your activity and the records are complete. You still need to check:
- unmatched transfers
- missing basis
- duplicate imports
- balances that do not reconcile
A useful checkpoint is whether you can explain the report’s large income and gain figures. If a wallet transfer appears as a sale, or an old purchase has zero basis because the import is missing, filing the report unchanged will not fix it.
Professional help becomes more useful when you:
- cannot resolve those gaps
- are unsure how a transaction is taxed
- need to amend earlier returns
- have a large sale to plan
Receiving one staking reward does not, by itself, mean you need a specialist engagement.
Nino’s AI software helps you work with financial accounts and documents and ask questions about your money. You can add financial and tax services from a human CPA and financial planner team. If you need crypto reconciliation or filing, confirm that work is included in your services plan.
What tax rules should the records support?
The IRS treats digital assets as property. For assets held as investments, selling, swapping, or spending them generally creates a capital gain or loss. Paying with crypto can therefore be a taxable disposition even though no dollars arrive in your bank account.
Moving an asset between wallets you own generally does not create a sale by itself. Keep the basis and ownership trail, and review network fees or related transactions separately. A broker form or software import may not know that two wallet addresses belong to the same person.
Income can arise before a later sale. Under IRS Revenue Ruling 2023-14, covered staking rewards are included in income when the taxpayer has control over them, using their value at that time.
Business transactions, gifts, and unusual arrangements can need different treatment. Ask the preparer to explain the rule used for any material item they cannot classify from the records alone.
What does hiring a CPA actually include?
A preparation engagement does not automatically include:
- transaction reconstruction
- future planning
- amended returns
- representation if the IRS sends a notice
Ask who prepares and signs the return, how uncertain items are reviewed, and what happens if records arrive late. If audit representation matters, get its scope and fee in writing.
A credential does not make incomplete records complete or guarantee protection from penalties.
Prepare for a useful quote
Send a short inventory:
- wallets and exchanges
- tax years
- approximate transaction count
- transaction types
- known gaps
- prior tax reports and returns, where relevant
The provider should be able to separate cleanup from filing and explain the assumptions behind the quote.