If I bought cryptocurrency in 2021 but didn't sell it, do I have to file anything in my 2021 taxes (I did buy a base currency then exchange it for another currency)?

If you just purchased it, then no. If you exchanged, that is a sale, and you must report that.

Reporting cryptocurrency is similar to reporting a stock sale. You'll need to report your cryptocurrency if you sold, exchanged, spent or converted it. When it comes to hard forks and airdrops, you only have taxable income if it results in new cryptocurrency.

You have to do this for every trade you made. If you bought coins at different prices or sold partial amounts, then you have to keep track and record the difference of what you sold. Cryptocurrency exchanges aren't required to provide a 1099-B or summary tax statement for cryptocurrency transactions.

You may receive various types of forms, including a 1099-K, 1099-B, and/or a gain and loss report.

It’s your responsibility to keep records of your transactions. The most common way to do this is to download your order or trading history from your exchange’s website. You may need to do this a few times throughout the year due to limits on how far back you can get information.

Once you have your figures:

1. Open or continue your return in TurboTax Online
2. Select Federal, and Wages & Income
3. Scroll down and select Show more next to Investment Income (or Investments and Savings)
4. Select Start or Revisit next to Stocks, Cryptocurrency, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Other (1099-B)
5. Follow the instructions and we'll calculate the gain or loss from the sale

There's an upload limit of 4,000 cryptocurrency transactions in TurboTax. If you have more than that, you’ll need a transaction aggregator. We’ll walk you through that in the cryptocurrency section.