I downloaded my transaction history from Poloniex, but it's a mess. How can I format it for easier tax reporting?

To format your Poloniex transaction history for easy tax reporting, follow these steps:

Poloniex will most likely provide your transaction history in CSV (Comma-Separated Values) format which is compatible with spreadsheet software such as Excel and Google Sheets. Each line represents a transaction, and the columns contain information such as the date, time, transaction type, currency, amount, and fees.

Formatting Steps:

• Clean up: Remove any unnecessary rows or headers and ensure consistent formatting.
• Organize Columns: Rename column headers with clear labels such as "Date", "Time", "Transaction Type", "Currency", "Amount", and "Fee".
• Standardize dates: Convert dates to a consistent format (for example, YYYY-MM-DD).
• Separate buys and sells: Consider separating combined buy and sell transactions into separate columns to facilitate calculation.
• Calculate the Cost Basis: Determine the original purchase price (cost basis) for each sell transaction, which may require referring to previous buy transactions in the same currency.
• Look into appropriate cost basis calculation methods (e.g., FIFO, LIFO) for your requirements.

Feel free to add any extra information or perspectives in the comments or submit your complaint.