ZenLedger Review: Effective Crypto Tax Software

My Overview

I recommend ZenLedger all the time to anyone who’s in crypto. Why spend your time doing all of the tracking and reporting for taxes when ZenLedger can save you the headache? It’s worth it.

ZenLedger Tax Analysis Tool Review

With crypto tax accounting software like ZenLedger, the idea is to have your tax forms filled out by software in a matter of minutes rather than spending hours upon hours trying to calculate your own tax obligations.

Localized tax forms in the United States are available, which means the finalized data does not even need to be manually inserted into a form once all of the taxes associated with the past year’s crypto activities have been tabulated. All of your crypto trades and transactions can also be viewed in a single spreadsheet as a historical reference for every taxable event that occurred. Advanced tools like crypto tax-loss harvesting and integrations with traditional tax software are also available with ZenLedger.

The platform is extremely intuitive, but those who run into any issues while putting together their tax reports with ZenLedger can also contact customer support at the click of a button, which is a rarity in the crypto tax industry. The entire process can be simplified as downloading your crypto trading data to platform, reviewing the resulting tax data that is generated, and then downloading your reports.

Best Features

Perhaps the best feature we discovered during our ZenLedger tax software review is the excellent level of customer support that is provided to all users. While customer support in itself is not a rare feature to have in the crypto tax accounting industry, the fact that full, premium support is available to all users is not seen that often. That said, you still need to be willing to throw down a good bit of extra cash if you want assistance from a licensed tax professional.

Another key offering from ZenLedger is the amount of focus this app provides to the evolving world of DeFi. While this new, emerging segment of the crypto ecosystem has led to high profits for a lot of users, the reality is that DeFi is also the most complex way to use blockchain technology at this time. Any DeFi users will find that ZenLedger is able to handle more of their crypto tax obligations in a more automated manner than most other crypto tax tracking apps.

ZenLedger also sports one of the best free-tier crypto tax software options on the market. While there are still limits on the functionality of free accounts, free users of the ZenLedger software are able to gain access to full customer support offerings and even download the tax reports that are compiled by the ZenLedger software.

A final feature of ZenLedger worth mentioning is the integration with TurboTax, which is basically a requirement for any crypto tax accounting application these days. With this functionality, users are able to easily combine all of their crypto tax documentation with their overall yearly tax reports.

Is ZenLedger Good for Beginners?

Simply put, ZenLedger is one of the best options on the market for those who are new to crypto taxation or the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole. Yes, the interface is extremely user friendly, but ZenLedger’s high utility for beginners go far beyond having an easy-to-use app.

For one, the customer support offered by ZenLedger is difficult to beat, as it’s available to every single user on the platform, even those who do not pay for an account. Additionally, the fact that users are able to download their full tax reports with a free account is something that is rarely seen with these sorts of apps. The heavy integration with various DeFi applications is also valuable to those who may have been in the bitcoin space for a long time but are just now dipping their toes into Ethereum and various DeFi applications.

The only caveat to ZenLedger’s role as a solid crypto tax tool for beginners is that localized tax documents are only supported for users in the United States, so users outside the U.S. may have a bit more difficulty in that regard.

What’s the Sign-Up Process?

The sign-up process for ZenLedger is simple and easy to complete from the official website. Just click the “Get Started for Free” button in the top-right corner of the homepage to begin the process of creating your account. On the next page, you’ll be asked to enter an email address and password to create your account. Although, you also have the option of logging in via your Coinbase or Google accounts.

Once your account is generated and you’re logged into your personalized homepage, you can then begin to attach your exchange accounts and crypto wallets to ZenLedger.

How Much is ZenLedger?

ZenLedger offers a variety of different account types for their crypto tax accounting platform to make sure that they can provide services to a wide range of crypto users. Whether you’ve only recently made your first bitcoin purchase or you’ve been trading a variety of different crypto assets on a regular basis for years, ZenLedger will have an account tier that fits your needs.

Starter Plans

The lowest-tier plans found on ZenLedger are known as Free and Starter. The Free plan, as it name indicates, is free of charge. Free users are limited to 25 crypto transactions that can be imported into the ZenLedger accounting software, but they’ll still be able to download all of their tax documents and even import their crypto tax reports into TurboTax. Premium customer support is also available to Free users, but the key limitation is that advanced crypto use cases like staking and DeFi are not supported. A Starter plan is essentially the same as a Free plan, but it supports the importation of up to 100 trades per year and costs $49.

Premium Plans

The top two account tiers on ZenLedger are Premium and Executive. Premium users are able to import up to 5,000 trades per year, while there is no limit on the number of transactions that can be imported for Executive users. In addition to the increased transaction limits, the main benefit of these two plans is that they support DeFi, staking, and margin trading.

Tax Professional Prepared Plans

In addition to offering software for crypto users who want to handle their taxes on their own, ZenLedger also offers the option for users to have their taxes prepared for them by a certified tax professional such as a tax attorney or CPA.

There are three account tiers available for users who would like to seek assistance from a tax professional: Silver, Gold, and Diamond. Each tier enables the user to have their taxes handled for a different number of yearly crypto transactions and total asset value, rising from $50,000 worth of assets and 50 transactions to $1,000,000 worth of assets and 4,000 transactions. Higher tier accounts also get support for more tax forms that will be completed and the number of state tax returns that can be done. The tax preparation services offered by ZenLedger can be completed in a matter of hours.

What Countries are Supported?

Currently, ZenLedger only has explicit support for tax documents in the United States. While users in other countries can benefit from ZenLedger’s ability to calculate how much taxes are owed in other jurisdictions, the reality is that the documents that can be downloaded via the platform only apply to those who are reporting their crypto activities to the Internal Revenue Service in the United States.

That said, more than 140 different fiat currencies are supported by ZenLedger, and any country that uses the HIFO, FIFO, or LIFO methods can be supported in the crypto tax reporting app in one way or another.

What Exchanges are Supported?

ZenLedger supports more than 400 cryptocurrency exchanges, 40 different blockchains, and 20 DeFi projects. You don’t have to sit there and think too long about how to use ZenLedger for crypto taxes; they integrate with almost everyone and pull in the numbers and data for you. According to their official website, ZenLedger supports more exchanges in an automated manner via APIs than any other crypto tax tracking app on the market.
Here are some of the more prominent exchanges supported by the ZenLedger software:

• Binance
• Bittrex
• Coinbase
• Gemini
• HitBTC
• Huobi
• Kraken
• KuCoin
• Liqui
• Poloniex

Potential Dealbreakers

One of the biggest potential deal breakers I’m wary of for ZenLedger’s crypto tax reporting software is that the documents that can be downloaded from the platform are only useful to those who are operating in the United States. While users in other countries can still benefit from the use of this app to calculate their crypto taxes, the process of getting this tax information to the proper authorities will be less automated.

Another potential dealbreaker you should consider is that lower tier accounts cannot gain access to tools for calculating taxes on more advanced crypto trading activities such as DeFi participation, staking, and margin trading. Even if you are someone who is new to these tools outside of the realm of basic crypto trading, you will not be able to access the necessary assistance for calculating your crypto taxes unless you are willing to pay for a Premium or Executive account.

Finally, it should be noted that the entry-level account for someone who wants to have their taxes prepared by a certified professional does not come with many bells and whistles. The Silver account type costs $750, but it is limited to only 50 transactions per year and up to $50,000 worth of crypto assets.

Use ZenLedger And Make Your Life Easier

Crypto taxes are a headache. If you’re someone who likes to bounce around in and out of trades, catching the wave of volatility, your year-end could prove to be quite the accounting nightmare. Save yourself the hassle and headache, and use ZenLedger to crunch the numbers.