As the April tax deadline approaches for more than 340 million Americans, crypto taxes are once again in the spotlight. But what’s different this year?
Starting this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will require brokers — such as crypto exchanges, hosted wallet providers, and payment processors who handle crypto transactions — to report them on Form 1099-DA, a new form specifically for digital asset transactions.
Kell Canty, CEO of Ledgible, tells TheStreet Crypto: “Starting for calendar year 2025, brokers must issue a 1099-DA with gross proceeds on sales of digital assets to go out in early 2026. This is only the first step with cost basis of new digital asset acquisitions, gross proceeds, and adjusted costs basis reporting in the following years.”
While the 1099-DA will bring more transparency, crypto holders are already expected to report their gains and losses. “The IRS will know who owes taxes on crypto assets and taxpayers have been told to report crypto gains and losses, even without receiving a 1099,” Canty said. “For the calendar year 2024, brokers are expected to send out 1099 MISC or NEC to customers to report income from staking or other rewards.”
Previously, taxpayers were largely in the dark. “A lot of people thought that buying and trading crypto was anonymous, and I think a lot of us know that it’s probably not true,” said Nik Fahrer, Director at Forvis Mazars, during a webinar on taxes. “Overall, there was a lack of taxation knowledge in the space.”
“From the broker perspective, we had chaos,” said Jessalyn Dean, Vice President of Tax Information Reporting at Ledgible. “Past income type transactions like interest, staking rewards or gross payments were not being reported on any 1099.”
However, in recent years, the IRS has attempted to clarify and standardize rules that crypto taxpayers must follow. One of the most widely used tax forms, Form 1040, now prominently asks whether a tax filer received, sold, or exchanged cryptocurrency during the tax year — the question now appears at the very top, even before questions about total income or standard deductions.
