Here are some examples and tips for understanding the way that CoinTracker represents blockchain transactions and related information.
Outgoing (debits, sends, payments, or tokens traded) are shown in the left column. Incoming, (purchases and receives) are shown in the right column.
Below, minus signs on the left and plus signs on the right are highlighted in yellow.
The information displayed below the outgoing( debited) amount can vary depending on the type of transaction.
The screenshot below shows a "Buy" transaction. The user paid $220 USD to purchase 0.04975423 ETH. The information that shows under the debited USD amount is the cost of one ETH at the time of the buy (pulled from Nomics.com), followed by the exchange fee, which was paid in USD.
This transaction is a transfer from the user's exchange account to the user's ETH wallet. The information below the debited amount shows the fee for the transaction. The fee was paid in ETH, so we show that first, then we show that same amount in the user's fiat currency.
Because of fees for blockchain transactions, the amount of crypto that is received may not be the same amount that was originally sent.
In this "Transfer" transaction, note that the amount of ETH on the left-hand/sending side is not the same as the amount that arrived in the ETH wallet on the right-hand/receiving side. If you subtract the received ETH amount from the ETH amount originally sent, you will find that the difference is because the fee has been subtracted from the received amount.
0.04975423 (sent ETH amount) - 0.04790623 (received ETH amount) = 0.001848 (the amount of the fee paid in ETH).
Exchange fees for crypto purchases are automatically included in the cost basis for the received crypto.
The fee does not need to be added to the cost basis, or added to the amount that the user exchanged for crypto. In the transaction below, the user spent $220 to buy ETH. Coinbase retained a fee, so the user did not receive a full $220 of ETH at the price on that day, but the full $220 they spent became the cost basis for the ETH they did receive.
The crypto price on CoinTracker transactions may not match the price shown on Exchange transactions.
The received amount on the right in the CoinTracker transaction, 0.04975423. multiplied by the price of ETH shown under the debited amount is should theoretically give you the amount of crypto you received in USD, minus the fee.
However, this is not true as of this writing in May 2022. In the example below, the spot price on the Coinbase transaction does not match price for ETH displayed on the CoinTracker transaction. This appears to be because we are including the fee in the price of ETH.
Below is a screenshot of the CoinTracker transaction placed above a screenshot of the same transaction in the Coinbase transaction CSV export, showing different values for ETH:
We don't currently record a taxable event when you pay a gas fee, and you'll need to be aware of this when looking at transactions in detail.
The fee of 0.001848 ETH / $7.68 shown on the Transfer transaction below:
• Is not added to the cost basis of the ETH received to wallet ending in 0bd61 on the right. However, the received ETH does retain the entire original cost basis from when it was purchased, even though there is less ETH. • Is shown for information purposes only. Although we know a gas fee can be a loss or gain depending on whether the price of the crypto went up or down since the time it was purchased, the disposal of crypto on the gas fee is not calculated as a taxable event separately or as part of this transaction (unless this is done manually).
****This often comes to light when users have transactions dealing with NFTs, which can have very high gas fees. Below, the user can avoid higher capital gains by adding the high fees to the cost basis for the NFT. The cost basis for the NFT below would go from $15 to $119.27.
Transactions on which crypto is disposed will show details of the taxable event.
Any time that crypto is disposed (i.e. traded, withdrawn, used for a purchase) that can be a taxable event. We show this on some transactions, and show whether there is a loss or a gain.
The wavy lines ≈ in the text highlighted in the screenshot mean "approximately". This is the approximate value of the crypto that is disposed, on the date of the transaction . The value after that is the cost basis of the crypto being disposed. The difference between these two figures will be displayed as a gain or a loss for the user.
In the example below, the user spent ≈ $52.25 worth of WILD that they originally paid $94.72 for, registering a loss of $46.82, in red. If the cost basis where lower than when the user bought the ETH than when they disposed it, that would register a gain. Gains are highlighted in green.
"0 ETH" transactions for contract execution may be taxable events and can be edited to show cost basis.
We have a public post for hiding 0 ETH transactions and simply adding the gas fee they represent to the appropriate transaction. One way to handle these for now is to edit the transaction and put the fee into the "Total Amount" field under "Paid/Sent"Withdrawn" column. The system will then calculate the cost basis for the crypto that was used to pay that fee.
Transaction:
Transaction Edit view (you'd be entering the 0.00589336 ETH from the screenshot above in place of the 0):
Rather than showing that you've purchased an NFT, CoinTracker presents the transaction as trading your crypto for an NFT.
Note that in this case the NFT is the token YUM #5168: