Did everyone just get this Kraken IRS email, or only those whom it affects?

We are reaching out to inform you of a recent court order requiring us to share some of our clients’ information with the IRS.

What’s the background for this?

In May 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a summons to Kraken demanding that we produce a wide range of records and data relating to our U.S. clients. Since one of Kraken’s guiding principles has always been maintaining our clients' security and privacy, we objected to the IRS’s demands and fought the summons in court.

After a lengthy litigation process, Kraken convinced the court to substantially reduce the number of clients affected and the amount of client data it would have to produce. However, the court ordered Kraken to produce profile information and transaction histories for clients who exceeded $20,000 in transactions during any single year from 2016 to 2020.

What this means for you:

The court order requires us to produce information regarding your account, specifically your:

Name Date of birth Tax ID Address Contact information Transaction history for 2016 to 2020. 

Kraken expects to share this information covered by the court’s order in early November 2023.

For your reference, the court’s judgment can be found here. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 3:23-mc-80029-JCS.

In addition, please note that because Kraken received a summons dated May 11, 2021, and more than six months passed before our challenges to the summons were resolved by the court, the period of limitations under sections 6501 and 6531 of the Internal Revenue Code (title 26 of the U.S. Code) were suspended beginning as of November 11, 2021, which will continue through the final resolution of Kraken’s response to the summons following the court’s order. This may be relevant to the tax returns that you have filed for the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 calendar years. If you have questions about your tax liability for those years, we strongly encourage you to consult with your tax advisor.