One perennial challenge faced by tax policymakers and regulators is that the real world changes much faster than laws and tax rules do. The latest sign of that cropped up last week, as the IRS announced it was sending 10,000 “educational letters” to taxpayers it suspects had taxable income from cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin) in 2018. This comes on the heels of a “virtual currency compliance campaign” the IRS conducted that year. The purpose of these letters is to encourage affected taxpayers to consider amending their tax returns to include this income.

In other words, “pay up or you might get an audit.”