Crypto capital gains tax
The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, so the same capital gains rules as stocks apply. The difference is how many transactions count as a sale.
Calculate tax on my gainWhat is taxable
- Selling crypto for dollars.
- Trading one coin for another, including stablecoins.
- Spending crypto on goods or services.
Each of these is a disposal: you compare what you received with your cost basis in the coins you gave up.
What is not taxable
- Buying crypto with dollars and holding it.
- Moving coins between wallets or exchanges you own.
Rates
Coins held for a year or less are taxed at ordinary income rates. Coins held for more than a year get the long-term rates of 0%, 15% or 20%, plus the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax at higher incomes. See worked figures for a $10,000, $50,000 or $100,000 gain.
Staking, mining and airdrops
Rewards from staking and mining, and most airdrops, are ordinary income at their market value when you receive them. That value becomes your cost basis, so when you later sell the coins only the change in price since then is a capital gain or loss.
Reporting
Each disposal goes on Form 8949 and the totals on Schedule D. US brokers now issue Form 1099-DA for digital asset sales, so the IRS sees your proceeds, but cost basis for coins moved in from other wallets may be missing or wrong, which can overstate your gain if you do not correct it.
Losses
Crypto losses offset gains and up to $3,000 a year of ordinary income, with the rest carried forward. Unlike stocks, the wash sale rule has not applied to crypto under current law, though proposals to change that have been made, so check the rules for the year you sell.
Hundreds of trades across exchanges? Let crypto tax software work out your cost basis and fill in Form 8949Other guides: selling stocks · selling a house.