Listen, there has been an interesting reshuffle at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — Trish Turner, who has been working in this system for more than 20 years, has become the new head of the digital assets division. This is exactly the part of the IRS that deals with cryptocurrencies — taxation, rule control, and all the paperwork around the crypt.
Prior to that, Turner was a senior consultant within the same department, so she's great on the topic. Her appointment looks like an attempt to restore stability after two previous leaders— Raj Mukherjee and Seth Wilkes— left after just a year in the job. One confirmed his departure to Bloomberg Tax, the other wrote about it on LinkedIn. Both of them came from the private sector and, it seems, could not get used to the government structure.
But the most important thing is the time at which this appointment takes place. The second Trump administration is currently working in the United States, and it is much more friendly towards cryptocurrencies than the Biden team. Documents have already been signed that speak for themselves: a working group on cryptocurrencies has been created, and one of the controversial rules on taxation of digital assets, adopted at the end of Biden's last term, has been abolished.
And now the IRS may have to change its policies to match the new course. That is, less pressure, more cooperation with the crypto industry. Turner, as a person from the system, can play the role of a "bridge" between the strict rules of the IRS and the new pro-currency policy.
But here everything is not so clear. On the one hand, the Trump administration may loosen its grip. On the other hand, the IRS is still a regulator, and it needs to collect taxes and enforce the law. Therefore, the question remains open for now.:
will Trish Turner really be able to change the IRS's approach to cryptocurrencies — or will everything be limited to only superficial concessions within the framework of the previous rigid system?