Key Insights: Form 1099-DA for 2026
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Form 1099-DA reports the sale, exchange, or disposition of digital assets, including cryptocurrency, stablecoins, and NFTs, on a per-transaction basis, similar to Form 1099-B.
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The 2025 tax year was transitional: brokers reported gross proceeds only, with cost basis reporting waived.
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That waiver is gone for the 2026 tax year, making basis reporting mandatory for covered assets.
What is Form 1099-DA?
Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions, is an IRS information return created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Brokers use it to report the sale, exchange, or disposition of digital assets on behalf of customers.
Unlike some 1099 forms that report a year’s activity as a single aggregate figure, Form 1099-DA reports each transaction separately, the same way Form 1099-B reports securities sales. A customer who sold digital assets in five separate transactions during the year will generally see five corresponding entries reflected in their reporting, not one
combined total.
Digital assets covered by Form 1099-DA include:
- Cryptocurrency
- Stablecoins
- Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
- Tokenized securities
What changed on Form 1099-DA for the 2026 tax year?
The 2025 tax year served as a transition period for this form. The 2026 instructions, released by the IRS, are intended as the final, settled version of the form’s requirements. Several things changed as a result.
- Cost basis reporting is now mandatory. For 2025 transactions, brokers were only required to report gross proceeds; reporting cost basis was optional under a transitional waiver. For 2026 transactions, that waiver is gone. Brokers must now report cost basis for covered assets, meaning digital assets acquired in 2025 or later.
- Noncovered assets have a voluntary safe harbor. For assets acquired before 2025 (noncovered securities), brokers aren’t required to report basis, but if they choose to report it voluntarily and check Box 9, they’re protected from Section 6721 and 6722 penalties for getting that basis information wrong.
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New de minimis exceptions. The 2026 instructions introduce reporting exceptions for certain small transactions:
| Transaction type |
Reporting not required if |
| Digital asset payment processor (PDAP) sales |
$600 or less in a year |
| Qualified stablecoin sales |
$10,000 or less in a year |
| Specified NFT sales |
$600 or less in a year |
The DeFi broker rule was repealed. The IRS had finalized rules in late 2024 that would have classified certain non-custodial decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms as brokers. Congress repealed those rules through a Congressional Review Act resolution signed into law in April 2025. Decentralized exchanges and non-custodial wallet providers remain outside the broker reporting requirement.
Who must file Form 1099-DA?
You must file Form 1099-DA if you’re a broker effecting digital asset transactions on behalf of customers, which includes:
- Custodial cryptocurrency exchanges, such as centralized platforms handling customer trades
- Hosted digital asset wallet providers
- Digital asset payment processors
Decentralized exchanges and non-custodial wallet providers are not currently subject to this filing requirement.
Form 1099-DA vs. Form 1099-B: Which one to file for dual
classification assets?
Some digital assets are also legally classified as securities. The IRS calls these dual-classification assets, and the most common example is a tokenized security. Sorting out which form applies matters because filing the wrong one is a reporting error, not a stylistic choice.
The general rule: If you sold a dual classification asset, file Form 1099-DA, not Form 1099-B. Tokenized securities specifically always follow this general rule.
There are exactly three exceptions where the general rule flips, and each one is narrow:
| Exception |
Asset type |
Which form to file |
| Exception 1 |
A dual classification asset that counts as a digital asset only because its sale clears or settles on a limited-access
regulated network |
Form 1099-B, not Form
1099-DA |
| Exception 2 |
A dual classification asset that’s a Section 1256 contract, including regulated futures contracts or Section 1256 option contracts on digital assets |
Form 1099-B, reported on an aggregate basis |
| Exception 3 |
A dual classification asset that’s a share in a money market fund |
Don’t file Form 1099-DA; Form
1099-B is optional, not required |
One important caveat on Exception 1: It doesn’t apply if the broker knows, or has reason to know, that a customer is structuring sales specifically to avoid information reporting. A broker can’t use this exception to help a customer route around reporting requirements.
How basis reporting works on Form 1099-DA for 2026?
Basis reporting introduces a few mechanics worth understanding before your first 2026 filing:
Covered versus noncovered decides which boxes apply
- Covered: The customer acquired the asset in 2025 or later, while it was held at that broker.
- Noncovered: Acquired earlier, or transferred in from elsewhere without full acquisition history.
This single distinction determines whether Boxes 1d, 1g, 1h, 1i, 2, and 6 are mandatory or optional for that specific sale.
Identifying which units were sold: FIFO vs. customer-provided data
- Default rule: When a customer holds multiple lots of the same asset bought at different times, the broker assumes the earliest units were sold first (FIFO).
- Exception: If the customer supplied specific information identifying which units they meant to sell, use that instead.
- Box 8 flags that the broker used customer-provided data rather than the FIFO default.
A wash sale example, from the IRS instructions
- September 2026: Customer buys 100 units of a tokenized security for $1,000.
- October 2026: Sells those 100 units for $600.
- Within 30 days: Buys back 75 units of the same asset, in a different account.
- Overall loss is $400, but 75 of the 100 units were repurchased inside the wash sale window, so $300 of that loss
is disallowed.
- The broker reports: $600 in Box 1f, $1,000 in Box 1g, $300 in Box 1i.
The Box 9 safe harbor works both ways
- For a noncovered security, checking Box 9 means Boxes 1d, 1g, 1h, 1i, 2, and 6 can be left blank entirely.
- A broker can also check Box 9 and still voluntarily complete those boxes anyway.
- Doing so carries no penalty exposure under Sections 6721 or 6722, even if that voluntary basis information turns out to be wrong. The safe harbor protects voluntary reporting on noncovered assets specifically.
Optional reporting methods simplify things further for certain assets
Brokers reporting qualifying stablecoin sales or specified NFT sales under the optional aggregate reporting methods can leave several of these same boxes blank, including 1d, 1g, 1h, 1i, and 2. These methods are built around simplified, aggregate-level reporting rather than per-lot
basis tracking.
When is the deadline to file Form 1099-DA?
Form 1099-DA follows the same special recipient deadline as Form 1099-B, rather than the standard January 31 deadline used by most other 1099 forms.
For the 2026 tax year (filed in 2027):
| Copy |
Deadline |
| Recipient copy |
February 16, 2027 |
| Paper filing with the IRS |
March 1, 2027 |
| Electronic filing with the IRS |
March 31, 2027 |
Can I get an extension to file Form 1099-DA?
Form 1099-DA is expected to follow the same extension process as Form 1099-B: an automatic 30-day extension using Form 8809, filed electronically or by paper on or before the original due date.
Because this form and its supporting guidance are still relatively new, confirm current extension procedures against the IRS’s finalized instructions before relying on this for a specific filing.
Are there penalties for late or incorrect filing of Form 1099-DA?
Yes. Form 1099-DA is subject to the same general penalty structure under Sections 6721 and 6722 that applies to other information returns:
| Filed |
Penalty per form |
| Within 30 days of the deadline |
$60 |
| After 30 days, before August 1 |
$130 |
| After August 1, or not filed |
$340 |
| Intentional disregard |
$690, no maximum |
Incorrect basis reporting can also trigger these penalties. This is exactly why the Box 9 voluntary safe harbor for noncovered securities matters: a broker who checks that box after reporting basis in good faith is protected from penalties for that specific information being wrong.
How to file Form 1099-DA
You can file Form 1099-DA electronically or by paper, though e-filing is strongly recommended given the transaction-level detail this form requires. To e-file with TaxBandits:
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Step 1: Create a free account.
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Step 2: Select or add the business filing the return.
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Step 3: Enter each digital asset transaction, including proceeds and, for covered assets, basis.
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Step 4: Review and transmit to the IRS and any applicable states.
E-File Form 1099-DA Now, starting as low as $0.80/form.
Frequently asked questions about Form 1099-DA
Cost basis reporting becomes mandatory for covered digital assets, ending the transitional waiver that applied to 2025 transactions.
A digital asset acquired in 2025 or later. Assets acquired before 2025 are noncovered, and basis reporting for those remains voluntary.
Yes, for specific categories: digital asset payment processor sales of $600 or less, qualified stablecoin sales of $10,000 or less, and specified NFT sales of $600 or less.
No. Rules that would have classified certain non-custodial DeFi platforms as brokers were repealed by Congress in April 2025.
No, though they’re structurally similar. Form 1099-DA is specific to digital assets; Form 1099-B covers securities and other financial instruments. A dual classification asset generally uses Form 1099-DA, with three specific exceptions.
Reconcile the difference using their own transaction records when completing Form 8949, rather than filing based solely on what the
form shows.
If a customer has questions about their Form 1099-DA
This is common, particularly for assets transferred in from another platform or wallet without accompanying basis information. A broker without visibility into what a customer originally paid may report $0 or an incomplete figure.
Customers should compare the form against their own transaction history and work with a tax professional to reconcile any discrepancy on Form 8949 rather than assuming the form is correct as issued.
Yes. The filing thresholds and de minimis exceptions determine when a broker must furnish a form, not whether a transaction is taxable. Customers are responsible for reporting all reportable digital asset activity on their own return regardless of whether a Form 1099-DA
was issued.
Some brokers issue corrected or delayed statements after the original filing season. If a 2025 transaction wasn’t previously reported, this may require an amended return to reconcile the new information.
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