Crypto capital gains tax: what's taxable and how it's calculated

Key takeaways

• A sale, a swap, and spending crypto are dispositions, and a move between your own wallets is not a sale.
• From 1 January 2025, basis stays with the units inside each wallet.
• The example swap has proceeds of $49,950, a gain of $39,950, and federal tax of $3,075.
• Many 2025 Forms 1099-DA show proceeds and no basis, so the records stay with you.
• This calculator does not apply the wash-sale rule to crypto, and that is not a safe-harvest promise.

Before you start

Taxable in the US

A person who owes US tax can owe it on crypto, and this page states the federal rule for a disposal.

Property, not currency

The IRS treats digital assets as property, not as currency, which is the rule in Notice 2014-21 and on the IRS digital-asset page.

Which crypto actions are taxable

Selling crypto for dollars, swapping one digital asset for another, and spending crypto on goods or services are dispositions, and the proceeds are the fair market value of what you received. Buying crypto with dollars, holding it, and moving it between wallets you own are not sales.

A wallet transfer still carries the basis of those units into the destination wallet. From 1 January 2025, Rev. Proc. 2024-28 and the 2024 final regulations apply specific identification, or first-in first-out, inside each wallet or account, rather than as one pool across every wallet. Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-28 and the IRS digital-asset page, verified on 12 October 2026.

How the gain on a sale or swap is computed

Proceeds minus basis minus a disposal fee is the gain or the loss, and a swap is entered as a sale at the fair market value of the asset you received. In the example, one unit bought for $10,000 is disposed of for other property worth $50,000, a $50 network fee is the selling cost, proceeds are $49,950, and the gain is $39,950.

For this single filer with $30,000 of taxable income before the gain, $19,450 of that gain is taxed at 0% and $20,500 is taxed at 15%, so federal tax is $3,075 and the net investment income tax is $0. The calculate guide keeps the longer order of steps, and the rates guide keeps the ceilings.

Where fees go

A fee you pay to acquire the units is not a separate calculator field, so you raise the buy price, which is the same entry the calculate guide uses. A fee you pay to dispose of the units is the selling cost, which is how the $50 in the example is entered, and you do not subtract a fee the exchange already took out of the proceeds.

If the network fee is paid in coins, those coins are their own disposal. The IRS digital-asset page treats a transaction fee paid with digital assets as a digital asset transaction, including when the rest of the transfer is only a move between your own wallets. Revenue Ruling 2023-14 does not state a separate basis rule for gas, so this page does not invent one: you still need a basis for the units you spent on the fee.

How the holding period is counted

A disposal after the one-year anniversary is long-term, and a disposal on the anniversary is still short-term, which is the same clock as every other capital asset on this site. The timeline above uses 15 January 2024, 15 January 2025, and 16 January 2025, and the example disposal on 15 June 2026 is long-term.

The 1-year guide is the home for that clock. This page does not restate a different rule.

What Form 1099-DA reports, and when

Form 1099-DA reports gross proceeds for 2025 transactions. Cost basis is reported for assets acquired in 2026 and later. This tool does not choose FIFO or specific identification for you. Verified on 12 October 2026.

The IRS digital-asset page says brokers must report gross proceeds for transactions on or after 1 January 2025, and basis on certain transactions on or after 1 January 2026. The first proceeds forms, for 2025 sales, went out in early 2026. Basis reporting for coins acquired in 2026 shows up on the forms for later sales, which arrive in early 2027. Many 2025 forms show proceeds and no basis, so you bring the records. The form does not choose which units you sold.

Do decentralized platforms send Form 1099-DA?

The IRS digital-asset page, updated 2 September 2026, says the final regulations cover brokers that take possession, including custodial platforms, and do not require reporting by decentralized or non-custodial brokers that do not take possession. A missing form does not erase the disposal.

Which units you are treated as selling

From 1 January 2025, Treasury Regulation 1.1012-1(j), as described in Rev. Proc. 2024-28, applies specific identification or first-in first-out inside one wallet, not across every wallet. Identified units are the ones sold. If you do not identify them, the default is the earliest units in that wallet.

Moving coins is not a sale, and their basis goes with them. This calculator does not choose a method or track wallets. Average basis is not the method for these units.

Staking, airdrops, mining, and forks

Revenue Ruling 2023-14 includes the fair market value of staking rewards in income when you have dominion and control. Revenue Ruling 2019-24 says a hard fork with no new units is not income, and an airdrop of new units after a hard fork is ordinary income. Notice 2014-21 treats mining rewards as income at that same point of control.

The amount included in income is the basis of those units, and a later disposal is a capital gain or loss.

Does the wash-sale rule apply to crypto today?

Section 1091 names stock or securities. Crypto is treated as property. This calculator sets a note on a crypto disposal and does not disallow a crypto loss, which is the same limit as the crypto lander’s line that the wash-sale rule is not applied in this model. The IRS digital-asset page opened on 12 October 2026 does not describe an enacted extension of that statute to crypto.

That sentence does not clear the loss, and it is not a promise that selling and buying back the next day is a safe harvest. The wash-sale guide is the home for the securities rule.

How NFTs are treated

Notice 2023-27 says the IRS intends to treat certain NFTs as collectibles under section 408(m), which can change the long-term rate. That 28% ceiling lives on the collectibles guide, and this crypto setting does not apply it.

A coin that is lost or worthless

A drop in price is not a loss until you dispose of the units. Do not report a sale you did not make. The digital-asset page does not give a deduction for a coin that is still in a wallet.

Gifts and donations

A gift of crypto to a person is not a sale. The holding period for gifted and inherited property is the gift watch-out on the start-here guide, and this page does not restate that clock.

For a gift to a charity, check Publication 526 and Form 8283. Publication 526 says digital assets are not publicly traded securities for Form 8283 unless the asset is publicly traded stock or indebtedness. This page does not state a deduction percentage.

Forms, software, and what to open next

On Form 1040 you answer yes if you received digital assets as payment, a reward, mining, staking, or an airdrop after a hard fork, or if you sold, exchanged, or disposed of them. You answer no for holding, a cash purchase you did not sell, or a wallet move, unless the fee was paid in digital assets. A year with a taxable disposal is not a no.

Form 8949 lists the disposal, and Schedule D carries the net. The Schedule D guide walks through that order. This page does not fill either form.

The calculator at /us/crypto estimates one disposition. It does not import a CSV, assign lots across wallets, or file the return.

Next, read the wash-sale guide for the securities rule, the calculate guide for the order of the math, and the Schedule D guide for the forms.