Been holding crypto since 2019, bought most of it before I even met my fiancée. Some of it has appreciated significantly, some of it I have moved around between wallets over the years, none of it was ever really a joint decision because she was not in the picture when I started accumulating.
Getting married in California next spring and I have been going down a rabbit hole trying to understand what this actually means from a tax perspective. I know California is a community property state but I am not sure how that interacts with assets I brought in before the marriage. Does the appreciation that happened before the wedding get treated differently than appreciation that happens after? What about crypto I moved or traded during the relationship but before we are legally married?
I have also been trying to figure out whether filing jointly after the wedding changes how my existing holdings get treated or if that only affects new activity going forward. Every answer I find online either does not apply to California specifically or contradicts something else I read.
I have a decent amount riding on getting this right and I feel like I need someone who actually understands both crypto taxation and California community property law specifically, not just one or the other.
Where did people here even start with this because I feel like I need two different specialists and nobody who combines both
Held crypto since 2019, getting married in a community property state, completely lost on the tax side of this
byu/Unhappy_Accident1469 intax
Posted by Unhappy_Accident1469
2 Comments
You’re probably overthinking the tax side a bit assets you acquired before marriage are generally separate property, but things can get complicated if you actively trade or commingle funds after the wedding. A CPA familiar with crypto plus a California family law attorney is usually the combo people end up needing.
Legal question not a tax question