FixMyCryptoTax 1099-DA reconciler

Background · Form 1099-DA

Form 1099-DA Explained: What Your Crypto Exchange Reports for 2025 and 2026

What's on Form 1099-DA, why the cost basis box is often blank, which Form 8949 boxes to use, and what changes for tax year 2026. Sourced from IRS instructions.

By John Calloway Updated Sources checked Not tax advice

The form, box by box

What each box on Form 1099-DA means in plain English. The highlighted boxes are the ones that decide how you fill in Form 8949.

Filer's name, address, TIN Recipient's name, address, TIN Account number
Form 1099-DA Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions Applicable checkbox on Form 8949G · H · J · K · Y
1a Code for digital asset
1b Name of digital asset
1c Number of units
1d Date acquired
1e Date sold or disposed
1f Proceeds
1g Cost or other basis blank?
1h Accrued market discount
1i Wash sale loss disallowed
2 Check if basis reported to IRS
3a Gross or net proceeds reported
3b Check if proceeds from a QOF
4 Federal income tax withheld
5 Check if loss is not allowed
6 Gain or loss: short-term, long-term, ordinary
7 Check if only cash proceeds
8 Check if broker relied on customer-provided acquisition info
9 Check if noncovered security
10 Reserved
11a-c Optional reporting method (stablecoins, NFTs)
12a Number of units transferred in
12b Transfer-in date
13 Reserved
14-16 State information
Schematic, not the official form: box titles from the IRS Instructions for Form 1099-DA (rev. Apr 30, 2026), checked Sep 30, 2026. The real form is laid out differently and has copies for the IRS, you and the broker.

  1. Box 1b, 1c What was sold

    The coin and the number of units, to 18 decimal places. One row per sale (or per aggregated group under the optional methods).

  2. Box 1d, 1e When you bought and sold

    Box 1d can be blank: the broker leaves it empty when the units were bought on several dates, or for a noncovered sale where it doesn't know the date. Your holding period comes from your own records then.

  3. Box 1f Proceeds

    Gross proceeds, already reduced by the transaction costs of the sale. This is what goes in Form 8949 column (d).

  4. Box 1g Cost basis: the box that is often blank

    The broker may leave it blank when box 9 is checked. Blank means not reported, not $0. You enter your correct basis in Form 8949 column (e).

  5. Box 2 Basis reported to the IRS?

    Checked: the IRS has the broker's basis, so the row goes in Form 8949 box G or J. Unchecked: box H or K.

  6. Box 6 Short-term or long-term

    One year or less is short-term. If the broker can't tell, the "Applicable checkbox on Form 8949" field shows code Y and you decide from your purchase date.

  7. Box 8 Your own numbers

    Checked when the broker used acquisition details you gave it, such as basis you added for coins you transferred in.

  8. Box 9 Noncovered

    Coins bought before 2026, or bought elsewhere and transferred in. For these the broker doesn't have to report basis.

  9. Box 11a-c Aggregated rows

    Qualifying stablecoins and specified NFTs can be reported as yearly totals. If your total is $10,000 or less (stablecoins) or $600 or less (NFTs), the broker doesn't have to report them at all.

  10. Box 12a, 12b Transferred in

    How many of the units sold had been transferred into the account, and when. A filled 12b is a strong hint that the basis lives in another exchange's export.

On your broker's form, the rows to check first are the ones with box 9 checked and box 1g empty.

Not tax advice. This guide summarizes IRS instructions and published tax-practitioner guidance as of September 30, 2026. Check with a tax professional for your situation.

Short version: Form 1099-DA is the new IRS form crypto brokers use to report your sales. For tax year 2025 it shows gross proceeds, and basis was optional. For tax year 2026 brokers must also report cost basis, but only for “covered” assets acquired after 2025. Anything you moved in from another wallet or exchange can still arrive with a blank basis, and filling that gap is on you.

On an extension? Your 2025 return is due October 15, 2026

If you filed for an extension on your 2025 return, the IRS can’t extend the due date “for more than 6 months (October 15, 2026, for most calendar year taxpayers)” (IRS Form 4868). The extension covers filing only: “Make sure you pay any tax you owe by the April filing date” (IRS, Get an extension), and interest runs on tax not paid by the original due date (Form 4868).

A 2025 Form 1099-DA shows gross proceeds, not what you paid: “Brokers are not required to report basis information with respect to sales effected in 2025” (IRS, 2025 Instructions for Form 1099-DA). Pull your full buy history before you file.

Some IRS disaster-relief notices move deadlines for affected areas to November 2, 2026 or February 1, 2027. Check the IRS disaster relief page.

What Form 1099-DA is

Digital asset brokers, exchanges, certain custodial wallet providers and some payment processors report digital-asset sales on Form 1099-DA (The Crypto Basic, Sep 29 2026). The two boxes that matter most:

BoxWhat it shows
1fGross proceeds from the sale
1gCost or other basis (not required for noncovered assets)

Source: IRS, Instructions for Form 1099-DA.

The timeline

Tax yearWhat brokers report
2025Gross proceeds; cost basis optional
2026 onwardGross proceeds and cost basis for covered assets (digital assets acquired after 2025)

Sources: IRS final broker regulations; IRS 1099-DA instructions; Form 1099-DA overview.

For “noncovered” assets, the broker “is not required to report basis information” but may do so voluntarily (IRS).

Why the basis box is often blank

An exchange can only know what you paid for coins you bought on that exchange. For assets transferred in from another broker or a self-custody wallet, a 1099-DA may arrive with no cost basis (The Tax Adviser, Mar 2026).

If you report proceeds with no basis, the whole sale can look like profit. Reconciling the form against your own records is how you avoid overpaying tax on the full gross proceeds (Form 1099-DA overview).

Kraken users: see our step-by-step Kraken 1099-DA missing cost basis guide.

Small-transaction thresholds

Brokers may use optional reporting when:

  • qualifying stablecoin sales total $10,000 or less for the year, and
  • specified NFT sales total $600 or less for the year.

Source: IRS 1099-DA instructions. Optional reporting by the broker does not change whether the sale is taxable to you.

Where it goes on your return

1099-DA data is used to complete Form 8949, which flows into Schedule D (Form 1099-DA overview). Digital assets have their own Form 8949 checkboxes:

  • Short-term: box G, H or I (not box C)
  • Long-term: box J, K or L (not box F)

Source: IRS, Instructions for Form 8949.

Form 8949 is used for digital-asset transactions “regardless of whether a Form 1099-DA is furnished” (The Tax Adviser). No form doesn’t mean no reporting.

Wallet-by-wallet basis

Basis is now tracked per wallet or account, not in one universal pool. Rev. Proc. 2024-28 set the safe-harbor transition, and Notice 2025-7 gave transition relief, effective only through December 31, 2025, allowing taxpayers with custodial accounts to identify units in their own books and records rather than with the broker (The Tax Adviser).

What DeFi users get

The current broker reporting rules don’t reach platforms commonly labeled decentralized or non-custodial, so DeFi activity won’t arrive on a 1099-DA. You track it yourself (The Crypto Basic).

A practical checklist for 2026

  1. Export full trade history from every exchange now, not in February.
  2. Note which holdings were transferred in; those are your blank-basis risk.
  3. Pick your lot method (specific identification needs records; see IRS FAQ 39–41).
  4. Import everything into one tool so basis follows coins across wallets.
  5. Compare the tool’s totals to each 1099-DA when it arrives.

Free tools: our Kraken crypto tax estimator, and every free tool and guide we publish on the start page. If you want software to reconcile it, Koinly lets you import and view capital gains free before paying for reports (Koinly pricing): try Koinly. Comparing tools? See Koinly vs CoinLedger vs CoinTracker. We earn a commission if you sign up through this link.

Disclosure: /go/ links are affiliate links. If you buy, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. See the disclosure.

Sources

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Not tax advice; check with a tax professional for your situation.