Court Authorizes John Doe Summons for Identities of U.S. Taxpayers Who Have Used Virtual Currency

On November 30, 2016, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, entered an order authorizing the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) to serve a John Doe summons on Coinbase Inc.  The order requests information about U.S. taxpayers who conducted transactions in a convertible virtual currency during the years 2013 to 2015.  The IRS wants the records of U.S. taxpayers who engaged in business with or through Coinbase, a virtual currency exchange headquartered in San Francisco, California.