On Jan. 16, 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the delay of the requirement for persons engaged in a trade or businesses to report information related to the receipt of digital assets on IRS Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over 10,000 Received in a Trade or Business.

Pursuant to section 6050I(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code), any person engaged in a trade or business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction (or two or more related transactions) in the course of such trade or business must file a return to report such transaction (or related transactions). Treasury regulations state this reporting must be done on Form 8300 within 15 days of receiving the cash.

In 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Pub. L. No. 117-58 amended section 6050I of the Code to expand the definition of “cash” to include digital assets with the requirement to furnish an annual written statement to each payor whose name is on Form 8300. This amendment was to apply to returns required to be filed after Dec. 31, 2023.

The Treasury Department and the IRS have announced they intend to issue regulations to provide further guidance regarding the reporting requirement for digital assets under section 6050I of the Code. Until those regulations are published, persons engaged in a trade or business will not be required to treat digital assets as cash for purposes of determining whether they have received more than $10,000 in one or more related transactions.

This announcement does not impact the income tax obligations of individuals receiving digital assets or using them for payments in relevant transactions.