The IRS will ask taxpayers if they own cryptocurrencies in new 1040 tax form

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released an early draft of its new Form 1040, Schedule 1, Additional Income and Adjustments to Income, which for the first time will ask U.S. income tax payers about their crypto activities.

The first line of the form, set to roll out in time for tax year 2019, asks: “At any time during 2019, did you receive, sell, send, exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?” followed by a yes or no option.

The draft by the IRS comes days after the revenue service issued new guidance that addresses the tax implications of a cryptocurrency "hard fork" to the owner of the existing cryptocurrency.

In a statement to The Block, the IRS said that starting today it will be accepting comments by email for a 30-day period regarding the addition at WI.1040.Comments@IRS.gov.