Steve Sokolowski wrote:
As to the tax forms, that's what we decided to do, and if you're unhappy about it, then you can fill out the form for the income you have made already and leave. I advise other customers who disagree with the simple step of receiving one piece of paper to also fill out the form in a few weeks and leave. While we appreciate customer feedback on everything else, it should be made very clear that this is one issue where we will not be listening to customers. I would rather people spend their posts and tickets writing to us about things we can work to improve, like disconnects or adding new coins, rather than this decision, which is final.
It's also important to understand that once we set a precedent of submitting 1099 forms, it is likely that other pools will follow suit. If litecoinpool has US customers and chooses not to issue the forms, then the IRS could take them to court as a test case, asking the judge why we submit the forms and they do not. Now that mining is a big business, and big businesses attract audits, I don't think that many mining pools will be operating without greater scrutiny of laws and regulations.
I vaguely remember that Litecoinpool is out of Amsterdam NL. If they don't transact in dollars, the IRS has little leverage over them. However, that does not mean miners who use them are out of the woods. The US servers on the east and west coasts could be siezed. Their domain could also be seized. I doubt that it will ever come to that.
However, people also have to understand that PH is in the US, and as the (AFIK) only non-peer-to-peer pool located in the US, is a juicy target for enforcement action to "make a point". As such they must take pains to comply with IRS, FINCEN, and whatever regulations the US may throw at crypto-currencies.
