crypto → OpenAccountants: crypto-tax demo

The pitch in one line: Your exchange/wallet/onchain history is a list of moves. OpenAccountants tells you which ones are taxable events and how — including the ones everyone gets wrong — signed off by a named licensed accountant. No keys, no signup.

transaction history (exchange CSV / Rotki export / onchain)
  └─ { buy, sell, swap, spend, reward }
        └─ OpenAccountants MCP  →  load the verified crypto-tax skill
              └─ Verdict:  ⚠️ crypto-to-crypto swap = taxable disposal (no cash needed)   ← the catch
                           ⚠️ spending crypto = taxable disposal
                           ⚠️ staking reward = ordinary income at receipt
                           ✅ long-held sale = long-term gain   ·   ℹ️ buy = not taxable
                 · gain + holding term computed
                 · the named CPA who signed off the rules

Regenerate the visual: python make_svg.py (static SVG, no deps) · animated GIF: brew install vhs && vhs demo.tape

Why this one

Crypto tax is where the most-confident wrong assumptions live. The single biggest: "I didn't cash out, so I don't owe tax." But in the US a crypto-to-crypto swap is a disposal at fair value — taxable the moment you trade ETH for SOL. Same for spending crypto, and staking rewards are ordinary income on receipt. OpenAccountants is the layer that knows which moves are events and which aren't.

• The data source = the moves (exchange, wallet, onchain).
• OpenAccountants = the tax treatment, with verified rules and a named accountant behind them.

What it shows

A sample history run through the OpenAccountants MCP:

Event	Verdict
Buy ETH with cash	ℹ️ Not taxable — sets cost basis
Swap ETH → SOL	⚠️ Taxable disposal — short-term gain (no cash received)
Spend ETH on a purchase	⚠️ Taxable disposal
Staking reward	⚠️ Ordinary income at fair value
Sell long-held BTC	✅ Long-term gain

The money shot: the ETH→SOL swap. No dollars changed hands, so it feels tax-free — but it's a disposal of the ETH at fair value, with a real gain. Catching that (and the "spending crypto is a disposal" one) is exactly the value OpenAccountants adds on top of any wallet or exchange.

Run it

git clone https://github.com/openaccountants/crypto-tax-demo
cd crypto-tax-demo
python pipeline.py                      # bundled sample history (mock mode, no keys)
python pipeline.py samples/transactions.json

Go live

export OA_MCP_TOKEN=...     # OpenAccountants account token (uses the live verified rules)
python pipeline.py

Files

File	Role
pipeline.py	Orchestrator + CLI: history → OA → verdict report
crypto_client.py	Normalizes events from an exchange/Rotki/onchain export
oa_client.py	OpenAccountants MCP JSON-RPC client (live or mock)
crypto_check.py	Classifies each event → verdict
samples/transactions.json	A small transaction history

Honest notes

• crypto_check.py does classification + gain + term, not an exact tax figure (which needs total income, filing status, NIIT, wash-sale and specific-ID nuances). Production leans on the full OA skill + an agent step; the named-CPA sign-off makes the verdict relianceable.
• Rules (swap/spend as disposals, rewards as income, >1yr long-term cutoff) are 2025 US treatment; live, every value comes from get_skill. The verifier (Amir Pelinkovic) is the real OpenAccountants US lead.