Right now, I'm using a website called Cointracking to track all of my crypto assets across various exchanges and wallets. The website has a cool API import feature, which lets me automatically record everything I did on any of the exchanges I used. This way, the website tracks 100s of my transactions, deposits and withdrawals, then calculates my gains/losses for taxes.
However, Cointracking doesn't have integration with Steemit.
Even if it did, tracking all the transactions would be a problem. A simpler way to watch your income from Steemit, is to count withdrawals from your steemit account. However, is this allowed?
Why I think this might be allowed
- Think of your Steemit account as your workplace.
- The only difference, is that steemit tells you how exactly you are generating value and what portion of it goes to you.
- A typical job on the other hand, hides the value you generate. At best, it sets minimums. For example a marketing team unable to generate expected sales is going to be deemed not profitable and be let go. But exceeding those expectations would give them an arbitrarily set bonus at the end of the year.
Why I think this isn't allowed
- It doesn't matter if you withdraw your cash or not. Since the money stored in your brokerage or coinbase account is yours', any sells deposited using that account is going to be taxed.
- You have control of your Steem Dollars (SBD) and Steem. Your Steem Power (SP) can be powered down any time you want.
As you can see, there are equally valid cases for both sides of the argument as to whether or not your Steem income stored in your steem account should be counted as taxable income.
If Steemit income is indeed taxable, should a programmer generating a value of $1M a year for the company be taxed for an income of $1M? What if the company he works for, returns the value in the form of free coffee, bean bags, free lunches and vacation time? Are those taxable? What are your thoughts? Please comment away.