FINRA does explicitly state that you can act in personal capacity and voice your own personal opinion as long as you make it clear that it's your own personal opinion. Secondly, regardless of whether you state something in public or private unless you make clear to your audience that you state something as your personal opinion and that you are not issuing any legal or investment advice you can be held responsible for your comments. So it does not matter whether you say things privately to another third party or to third parties in a public forum. What matters is whether you voice your personal opinion or give investment or broker advice or make any other statements in which you act in official capacity of your employer. Here is a link to the rules which reflect what I stated above: https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/key-topics/social-media My only point was that public message boards are kind of useless when participants quite often want to only engage in private. It derives everyone else of the benefit of learning something new. The above clearly shows that you are not risking anything as long as you clarify that you make a statement in private capacity and that it reflects your personal opinion, only. Back to taxation of capital gains in a joint broker account.
Okay everyone... here are more details. I think these are necessary to fully understand the situation... I (hereafter referred to as "Partner 1") and someone I know (hereafter referred to as "Partner 2") know someone (hereafter referred to as "Trader Friend") who is a genius at Bitcoin scalping. We have watched "Trader Friend" use BTC/USDT (Tether cryptocurrency) to make a lot of money on a trading platform called Bruoex. I have looked into Bruoex and it is very new, and I will admit I thought it was a scam at first because of how unprofessional it appears on the surface. But I have verified that we are able to take money out of our accounts (even more than our original investment). So I don't think Bruoex is a scam, but I do think that it's unregistered in the United States with the CFTC and the NFA (National Futures Association). I did some research about a different similar app called Binance and saw that Binance was originally deemed illegal by the USA until they started adopting the requirements of the USA and then started a new company called Binance.US. Our "Trader Friend" likes to use Bruoex and not Binance.US. "Trader Friend" previously used Binance, until switching over. I would like to know what issues may arise out of using Bruoex if it is indeed not allowed in the United States. And how can I verify that it isn't allowed in the United States? Myself (Partner 1) and Partner 2 have to make a joint account because Trader Friend has to write algorithms and is only willing to do it for one account. It would be too time consuming for them to do more than one. At this point, if all of the issues around Bruoex can be handled in a legal way... then I think the best option is to form a General Partnership with me and Partner 2. Thoughts? Advice? Edit: One more but of complication... We also want to give a commission to "Trader Friend." Trader Friend is not licensed in any official capacity. Is it legal to give them money as a "Consultant?" Or would this automatically be considered some sort of fraud by the SEC (or someone else). I am not going to do anything illegal. But I want to find a clear definition of the law and see if there's a way to do what I want without violating any laws. I am even willing to purchase citizenship of another country if that's what it takes. There are some countries in the Caribbean that sell citizenship for $100,000.
@Robert Morse do you have any tax accountant recommends who specialize in trading besides Green Tax? They are WAY too expensive.
I would have to ask a few clients who they use and if they would recommend them. I'm not willing to post those responses publicly. If you email me, my email is below, I will ask around for you.