Question about tax loss harvesting for staked crypto
Last year I sold and rebought any crypto that I was holding for a term loss to offset capital gains. However, I realized I couldn’t do this with my ETH and other staked assets, unless maybe I bought new ETH, sold it, and claimed it as the higher cost basis lot. Would this be acceptable to our friends at the IRS?
Ex. January 1: Buy 1 ETH at $4,000, then stake.
Dec. 31st: Buy 1 ETH at $1,000. Sell 1 ETH for $1,000.
Tax time: Claim 2 ETH bought at above cost bases. Claim 1 ETH sold at $3,000 loss. Keep other 1 ETH at cost basis of $1,000.
Obviously this is very simplified, and doesn’t account for staking rewards as income and so on. But does the general principle apply that I could buy and sell a coin in this way to take advantage of the lack of wash sale rule? Or does anyone have better suggestions?
Edit: I am in the US, so asking about that country’s tax laws.
submitted by /u/pelagianism
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