Introducing Verify Before You File™
Verify Before You File™ is being developed to help you conduct a structured review of a crypto tax report before relying on it for tax filing.
You do not need to become a crypto tax expert or learn how to rebuild an entire crypto account reconciliation from the beginning.
Instead, Verify Before You File™ will help you:
Recognize common warning signs
Identify areas that may require further investigation
Understand which issues could affect the report
Ask better questions about the underlying data
Determine whether corrections may be needed
Recognize when professional assistance may be appropriate
The goal is not to promise that every report is perfect. It is to help you avoid relying on a report simply because the software was able to generate one.
I haven't seen another resource that focuses specifically on reviewing a completed crypto tax report before you file — most tools and guides focus on generating the report, not verifying it.
A Practical Three-Step Review
Verify Before You File™ uses a practical framework to help you review the report, evaluate what you find, and decide what should happen next.
1. Review
Look for warning signs that may indicate missing data, incorrect cost basis, unmatched transfers, classification errors, unsupported adjustments, or other potential problems.
2. Evaluate
Consider whether the issues you identified are minor, material, or likely to affect the reliability of the report.
3. Decide
Based on what you find, determine the appropriate next step.
Outcome
🟢 Ready to File
You did not identify warning signs that require additional action, and the report appears reasonable to use for tax filing.
🟡 Fix Before Filing
You identified one or more issues that should be investigated or corrected before relying on the report.
🔴 Professional Help Recommended
The report contains significant issues, complex activity, or unresolved questions that may require assistance from an experienced crypto tax professional.
Note:
Verify Before You File™ is designed to support a more informed decision. It does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of a crypto tax report.
Closing the Verification Gap™
Crypto tax software can organize transactions and calculate gains, losses, and income.
AI can explain tax concepts, summarize guidance, and help investigate individual issues.
These tools can be extremely useful. But they do not independently confirm that every account was included, every transaction was handled correctly, or every important judgment was reasonable.
That leaves a gap between generating a crypto tax report and confidently relying on it for tax filing.
We call this the Verification Gap™.
Verify Before You File™ is designed to help close that gap by giving you a practical process for reviewing the report, evaluating potential issues, and deciding what to do next.
Why I Created Verify Before You File™
Over the years, I have reviewed many crypto tax reports that appeared complete but contained problems beneath the surface.
Sometimes an entire wallet was missing. Sometimes transfers between a taxpayer’s own accounts were treated as taxable sales. In other cases, missing cost basis, incorrect classifications, or unsupported manual adjustments changed the final results.
Many of these reports were generated by reputable crypto tax software. The software was not necessarily malfunctioning. It was calculating based on incomplete data, incorrect assumptions, or decisions it could not independently evaluate.
That is why I believe generating a crypto tax report should not be the final step before filing.
Someone still needs to step back, review the report as a whole, and ask whether the results make sense.
I created Verify Before You File™ to make that review process more practical and accessible for crypto investors and the tax professionals who serve them.
— Sharon Yip, CPA
Frequently Asked Questions
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It's the space between "my crypto tax software generated a report" and "my report is actually accurate." Software calculates based on the data you feed it — it can't tell you if a wallet is missing, a transfer was misclassified, or your cost basis is wrong. That gap is where costly errors hide, even in a report that looks complete.
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Software can only work with what it's given. If you forgot to connect a wallet, moved funds between your own accounts, or have incomplete cost basis history, the software has no way of knowing that information is missing or wrong — it just calculates with what's there and produces a clean-looking report anyway.
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Crypto investors who want to understand what "verified" actually means before they file, and tax professionals who receive client-prepared reports and need a structured way to evaluate them before relying on the numbers.
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No. It's written for someone without a crypto tax background to follow. You don't need to understand blockchain mechanics or tax law — the framework tells you what to look for and why it matters.
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It's not a replacement for professional review — it's a way to understand what a thorough review actually checks for, so you can either do a first-pass review yourself or have a more informed conversation with your preparer about what's been verified and what hasn't.
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Start with the free 10-point checklist for a quick gut-check on your report. If you want a full guided review, the Essentials Workbook walks you through it step by step.
Looking Ahead: The CTI Verification Journey™
Verify Before You File™ is the first step in a broader educational journey designed to help crypto investors and tax professionals produce more reliable crypto tax reports.
Each phase addresses a different question that may arise before a crypto tax report is used for filing.
Phase 1: Verify Before You File™
Can I reasonably rely on this crypto tax report?
Learn how to review a crypto tax report, recognize common warning signs, evaluate the potential impact of the issues you find, and determine the appropriate next step.
Your review will lead to one of three possible outcomes:
Ready to File
Fix Before Filing
Professional Help Recommended
Phase 2: Fix Before You File™
How do I address the problems identified during my review?
Once you identify potential problems, the next step is understanding what may need to be corrected before relying on the report.
Fix Before You File™ will introduce practical approaches for addressing common crypto tax reporting issues, including:
Missing or duplicate transactions
Unmatched transfers
Missing or incorrect cost basis
Unsupported blockchains
Common transaction classification errors
Incomplete documentation
Some issues may be corrected by the person preparing the report. Others may require additional records, technical judgment, or assistance from an experienced crypto tax professional.
Status: In Development
Phase 3: Crypto Account Reconciliation Blueprint™
How do professionals produce reliable crypto tax reports from the beginning?
The Crypto Account Reconciliation Blueprint™ will go beyond reviewing or correcting an existing report. It will teach the end-to-end professional methodology used to transform raw exchange and blockchain data into a reliable and well-documented crypto tax report.
Topics will include:
Data collection and account verification
Transaction completeness
Wallet and exchange reconciliation
Transaction classification
Cost basis analysis
DeFi and NFT activity
Quality-control procedures
Documentation and audit readiness
This advanced program will be designed for those who want to develop a deeper understanding of professional crypto account reconciliation from start to finish.
Status: Planned
One Journey. Three Different Questions.
Verify Before You File™ helps you determine whether a report appears reasonable to rely on.
Fix Before You File™ helps you understand how common problems may be addressed.
Crypto Account Reconciliation Blueprint™ teaches the professional methodology behind producing a reliable report from the beginning.
Each phase builds on the one before it, moving from identifying potential problems, to addressing them, to understanding the complete reconciliation process.