I was asked yesterday in the message boards about how to not pay taxes at all on your crypto currency investments as a U.S. Citizen and I didn't have an answer at the time, but I was thinking about it since then and I realized that investments can be made through a self-directed Roth IRA account and not only will the account grow tax-free, but also the distributions after retirement age are totally tax-free.
I have a self-directed Roth IRA account and I use it to invest in real estate, so I called my account manager to ask if this is a possibility and what the specifics would look like. For my real estate investments I have formed a "Checkbook LLC" that is fully owned by my Roth IRA but gives me limited managerial permissions. Turns out this is the same method that is needed to invest with crypto currencies! So I am waiting for clearance from the lawyer to make sure I can really do this and it won't be considered unrelated business taxable income, but it should be good to go.
Anyways if you are trading successfully and have an old 401k or IRA laying around, these are the steps you would take to use your retirement funds for trading:
- Open a self-directed IRA account with a custodian who will allow this. Not all custodians allow checkbook IRA accounts to be owned, so verify this first.
- Transfer funds from your existing retirement account to the IRA. Make sure this is a direct trustee to trustee transfer and not a rollover, or they will withdraw 20% withholding and you will have to pay that amount in now to make it tax-free.
- Form a LLC that is fully owned by your IRA as member but listing you as a manager. Only certain lawyers will do this, as it is a specialized area.
- Open a bank account for the LLC. This is tough because most banks require funds to open rather than accepting a wire to a new business account, so make sure to get a cashier's check sent from you custodian to fund the account.
- Open an exchange account or accounts in the name of the LLC. Must be in the company name, or an anonymous account so again this can be a little tough for the US exchanges that are needed to transfer funds in.
- Transfer funds from bank account to exchange and start trading.
Wish me luck in being able to do this myself, hoping to build up some extra cash to buy more real estate to fund my own retirement. The house I own now that is pictured below cashflows $1,000/mo and pays down the mortgage, just need 29 more and I'm set! ;)
