IRS Sends 10,000 Letter 6174 Crypto Tax Notices a Month

The IRS is mailing roughly 10,000 Letter 6174 notices per month to U.S. taxpayers with cryptocurrency transaction records, and the campaign's tone has hardened in recent weeks. That figure comes from Clinton Donnelly, CEO of crypto tax firm CryptoTaxAudit, who has tracked the mailing surge first-hand through his own clients.

Bitcoin.com reported on November 9 that inquiries from taxpayers who recently received Letter 6174 have jumped. Donnelly wrote on X that the issue is no longer limited to isolated cases. Dozens of people, clients among them, contacted him after the notice landed in their mailboxes.

What is Letter 6174?

Letter 6174 is an IRS notice sent to taxpayers whose cryptocurrency transaction history has been identified by the agency. It advises recipients to check whether income from past crypto trades was properly reported. Receiving the notice alone does not establish a tax violation, and the letter does not allege any specific one.

The IRS has sent Letter 6174 since 2019 to taxpayers with a history of holding or trading crypto. The notice tells recipients they may not fully understand their tax obligations around crypto transactions. If missing reporting is identified, it directs them to file an amended return or a delinquent return.

Donnelly said distribution of the notice has climbed over the past six weeks. He earlier described the roughly 10,000-per-month effort as educational. Now, he says, the broader campaign appears to put greater pressure on recipients to revisit past filings.

Should recipients respond immediately?

Here is the practical question: what does this change for someone who gets the letter? On Donnelly's reading, not much in procedural terms. He cautioned against a rushed reaction.

"You should not rush to amend a tax return or submit documents to the IRS before fully understanding your tax situation," Donnelly wrote. "Letter 6174 and 6174-A generally do not require a direct response, but the guidance should be reviewed carefully."

That distinction matters. A wave of hasty amended filings could create new exposure if taxpayers self-report errors without understanding their full position. The notice itself frames compliance as the recipient's responsibility to evaluate.

Recipients include industry figures

Posts from users reporting receipt of the notice have spread on X. Joel Schwartz, Ripple's honorary chief technology officer and a board member, said a few days ago that he had received the mailing as well. He said he discarded the document, calling it essentially a reminder to comply with the law.

The scale of the campaign points to a sustained identification effort. Ten thousand notices a month means the IRS is working through a substantial list of wallets, exchange records and transaction histories linked to identifiable taxpayers, and pushing those names toward self-review of prior years.

For crypto investors with unreported or under-reported trading income, the practical window is narrowing. The agency has the mailing list, the transaction records and, since 2019, the precedent of using them — and recipients who wait for a follow-up notice rather than assessing their filings now face a far less comfortable conversation.