Form 1099-DA: What Your Crypto Broker Reports and What It Leaves Out
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Your Takeaways:
- Form 1099-DA reports digital asset sales made through a broker, but the proceeds shown don't match your taxable gain.
- A blank cost basis box does not mean your basis is zero. You may need to use your own records, especially for noncovered assets.
- Form 1099-DA does not include every type of crypto activity, including staking rewards, some non-custodial transactions, and certain transactions subject to reporting exceptions.
- Compare the form with your crypto records, including assets sold, units, dates, proceeds, cost basis, and transferred-in assets.
- Even if you do not receive a Form 1099-DA, you may still need to report taxable crypto transactions on your tax return.
The Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions, is the form that the crypto broker sends both to you and to the IRS to report the digital assets you sold through it. For sales in 2025 it lists the amount you received, and for sales from 2026 it can also show the amount you paid. The figure for the proceeds is not equal to your taxable gain, and a blank basis box does not indicate that your basis is zero.
Imagine the form as just another item in your crypto tax record. It’s useful since the IRS now has the same figures as you do, but it only includes transactions handled by the broker and only reflects what that broker was able to see. The sections below match the form as you get it, beginning with who sends it and ending with the things that never appear on it.
Who Sends You a Form 1099-DA
The form is provided by a broker. IRS instructions define the term as a person who, as part of the ordinary course of a trade or business, “stands ready to effect sales of digital assets to be made by others.” In reality this usually applies to a custodial exchange or trading platform that holds your cryptocurrency and executes your trades. The rules also apply to some businesses that might not be considered brokers. These include the operators of digital asset kiosks, certain companies that process digital asset payments, and real estate reporting persons who know that a buyer has paid with digital assets.
Certain businesses are left out of the scope. A company that sells or licenses only hardware or software that enables you to control your own private keys does not count as a broker for this purpose. The same goes for one that offers only validation services. Furthermore, the final regulations do not apply to decentralized or non-custodial platforms that never take possession of the assets being traded. In such cases, no 1099-DA will be sent out for the trades in question, even though the trades themselves must still be reported on your tax return. For information on how to report crypto on your tax return, see our guide.
What Each Part of Your Form 1099-DA Means
These are the boxes you will look at most. The box numbers come from the IRS instructions for sales made in 2026.
Box | What it shows | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
1a, 1b | The asset’s code and name | Which coin or token was sold |
1c | Number of units | How much of it was sold |
1d | Date acquired | Decides short- or long-term treatment; may be blank for noncovered assets |
1e | Date sold or disposed | The date of the sale |
1f | Proceeds | What you received, before your cost is subtracted |
1g | Cost or other basis | What you paid; may be blank for noncovered assets |
2 | Basis reported to IRS | Whether the IRS also received the basis figure |
4 | Federal income tax withheld | Backup withholding, if any; you claim it on your return |
6 | Gain or loss | Short-term or long-term, for covered assets |
9 | Noncovered security | The broker wasn’t required to report basis for this asset |
12a, 12b | Units and date transferred in | Crypto you moved into the account from elsewhere |
Why the Cost Basis Box May Be Blank
Reporting has been phased in, which is why two forms from the same broker can look quite different:
Sales made in | Proceeds | Cost basis |
|---|---|---|
2025 | Reported | Not required |
2026 and later | Reported | Required for covered securities; optional for noncovered securities |
A digital asset is only considered a covered security if it was obtained after 2025 in an account with a broker who provided custodial services and was kept in that account until the broker sold it. In all other cases it is noncovered, which includes any cryptocurrency purchased before 2026 and any cryptocurrency transferred in from another wallet or exchange. So in the situation where you bought some of a coin via a custodial broker in 2024 and further amounts through the same broker in 2026, the 2024 portion is noncovered while the 2026 portion can be covered. The same form may therefore show a basis for one lot and no basis for the other.
A blank box 1g does not mean zero. The instructions state that brokers should put in -0- only in the case where the asset actually had a basis of zero. An empty box simply shows that the broker didn’t report it, so your own records have to provide the figure. If the basis that the broker did report proves to be incorrect, our guide will explain how to correct broker basis on Form 8949.
What Your Form 1099-DA Leaves Out
Several kinds of activity never show up on the form, even when a broker was involved:
- Rewards and staking payments. The instructions make it clear that brokers should not report them on Form 1099-DA, but that doesn’t mean they are tax-free. In our guide you will find an explanation of how staking rewards are taxed.
- Transactions the IRS has put on hold. Until the IRS gives further guidance, Notice 2024-57 allows brokers to omit wrapping and unwrapping transactions, as well as those relating to liquidity providers, staking, lending, short sales, and notional principal contracts.
- The trading that takes place on non-custodial platforms, since these platforms are not covered by the regulations.
- Small stablecoin, NFT and payment totals. A broker who uses the optional method for qualifying stablecoins (coins intended to track a single government currency at a 1:1 ratio and meeting other conditions) need not report a customer’s designated sales if those sales amount to $10,000 or less in a year. Similarly, the threshold is $600 for specified NFTs when using the optional method and $600 for sales carried out by a digital asset payment processor.
Don’t suppose that the absence of a 1099-DA means there’s no tax. The form only records specific broker sales and is not a full account of all your crypto activities during the year.
Proceeds Are Not Your Taxable Gain
Imagine that you paid $4,000 for a coin and then sold it for $7,000. Although box 1f might show $7,000, your actual gain is $3,000 before taking into account any transaction costs, since the $4,000 you originally paid is subtracted first. It is this difference between the two amounts that shows just how important the basis box is. It also explains why a form with a blank basis can make a sale appear considerably more profitable than it really is.
What to Check When Your Form 1099-DA Arrives
For 2025 sales, brokers were required to send you the form by February 17, 2026. When yours arrives, compare it with your own records before acting on it:
- The asset, the number of units, and the sale date
- The proceeds in box 1f
- Whether box 1g shows a basis, and whether it matches what you paid
- Whether box 9 marks the asset as noncovered
- Any units shown as transferred in (boxes 12a and 12b)
If you notice that something is wrong, you should get in touch with the broker who issued the form and request a corrected version. Only the broker is able to correct the figures it reported to the IRS. Regardless of the situation, you should keep your own records of the purchase and transfer, since for any noncovered asset these records are the only source of your basis.
Form 1099-DA vs. Form 1099-B
Form 1099-B reports sales of securities and barter exchange transactions, and it is the form you may know from a stock brokerage. Form 1099-DA was created for digital assets. Where an asset counts as both a digital asset and a security, the instructions tell brokers to generally use Form 1099-DA and not Form 1099-B. One exception is section 1256 contracts on digital assets, such as regulated futures, which brokers report on Form 1099-B in aggregate.
For the official wording, please refer to the IRS’s Form 1099-DA instructions. Our overview of other IRS forms focuses on the ones you are most likely to file with your tax return.
File With Your 1099-DA in Hand
As soon as your forms have arrived and your records are all in order, you can report your crypto sales and fill in the rest of your tax return by yourself. If you want to know more about how crypto is taxed, see our crypto taxes guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is probably due to the asset being noncovered (that is, it was purchased before 2026 or was transferred in from a different wallet). It may also be because the form covers sales in 2025, a year in which basis reporting was not required. If the box is left blank, it means the broker did not provide the figure and you have to use your own records to supply it.
