Coinbase users in both the United States and European Union are being urged by the exchange to remember to pay any necessary taxes on cryptocurrency gains made through buying and selling.

Users have reported that a prominent banner has recently been added to the exchange website. This newfound focus on ensuring exchange customers abide by existing legislation comes after the decision by the San Francisco District Court, that Coinbase user account data must be provided to the IRS.

Initially, the IRS requested account data for 480,000 accounts. However, under the ruling, Coinbase was made to hand over just 14,000 in total, covering accounts handling sums of more than $20,000 during the two year period spanning 2013 - 2015.

While Coinbase are unable to offer tax advice to their users, the exchange notes that account history records can be useful in determining overall gains, and provides a link to relevant IRS pages. Coinbase is also trialling a Cost Basis for Taxes report which users can generate to assist in calculating tax.

Failure to file and pay taxes by the deadline can result in penalties being issued by the IRS as necessary. As standard, the penalty is set at 5% of the unpaid tax amount per month.