Does Coinbase Report to the IRS?
Learn about what Coinbase reports to the IRS, including 1099 forms, John Doe summons, and what you can do to stay compliant.
Key points
Coinbase reports income from crypto over $600 to the IRS via Form 1099-MISC.
Whenever Coinbase issues a 1099 form, both you and the IRS will receive it.
The IRS has previously issued a John Doe summons to Coinbase, compelling Coinbase to hand over customer transaction data. This information was used to send out warning letters to investors.
Coinbase began issuing 1099-DA to users in 2026.
Does Coinbase report to the IRS?
Yes, Coinbase may report your transactions to the IRS if you have more than $600 in rewards in a financial year.
From 2026, you'll also get a Coinbase 1099-DA, which reports gains and losses from disposals of crypto.
What does Coinbase report to the IRS?
Coinbase issues Form 1099-MISC to US users with more than $600 in income in a given financial year. This form is sent to both the user and the IRS.
Coinbase now also issues a 1099-DA that reports disposals (sales, trades & spends) of crypto. This started in 2026.
What counts as income on Coinbase?
Whenever you're earning new tokens on Coinbase from a variety of transactions, this may be classified as taxable income. This could include transactions such as staking rewards and Learn and Earn rewards.
Read our crypto taxes guide for more information on what counts as income from crypto.
When will I receive my form?
The US financial year runs from 1 January to 31 December, and Coinbase tax reporting happens after the end of the financial year and before the filing deadline on April 15. If you're going to receive a 1099-MISC form from Coinbase, you'll receive it by the end of February of the following financial year at the latest.
How do I get my 1099 Form from Coinbase?
You can download your 1099 by going to documents, in your Coinbase tax center.
What do I need to do if I receive a 1099 form from Coinbase?
If you receive a Coinbase 1099 Form, you must report it (and all other crypto income) on your tax return. You should:
Review your form details.
Calculate your tax liability.
Report your gains, losses, and income accurately.
Keep good records.
It's important to remember that your Coinbase 1099-MISC only includes miscellaneous income, and you are still required to report any capital gains or losses from crypto, as well as any other income, from Coinbase and all other crypto exchanges and wallets you use.
Does Coinbase share other information with the IRS?
Even if you don’t receive a 1099 Form from Coinbase, you are still required to report all cryptocurrency transactions to the IRS every tax season, and they might know about your Coinbase investments anyway. Back in 2016, the IRS won a John Doe Summons case against Coinbase, forcing them to share customers' KYC data.
In this instance, the IRS asked for records on individuals engaging in transactions of $20,000 or more in a financial year, and more than 10,000 Coinbase customers were contacted, warning them they had failed to report additional income or gains.
Does Coinbase report conversions to the IRS?
Yes. Coinbase reports conversions of crypto to the IRS via 1099-DA forms. The exchange began issuing these forms in 2026 (for transactions in 2025)
What does the IRS do with the information Coinbase provides?
The IRS has previously used information provided by Coinbase to send warning letters to crypto investors it believes have failed to accurately report any gains or income from investments.
Suffice it to say, discrepancies between what's reported in your tax return and what is reported to Coinbase will increase the risk of a crypto tax audit and subsequent penalties.
Read next: Received IRS Letter 6173 or 6174? Here's What To Do
What information does Coinbase send to the IRS?
Information reported by Coinbase includes user information such as your name, address, and TIN, as well as transaction details, including proceeds.
Can I stop Coinbase from sharing my information with the IRS?
Not currently, but some Coinbase users are trying to do just that.
In 2025, Roger Metz filed a lawsuit against the IRS to prevent the agency from accessing his cryptocurrency transaction records. Metz contends that the IRS's information requests, encompassing digital asset price histories and communications with Coinbase, overstep the bounds necessary for verifying his 2022 tax return and infringe upon his privacy rights. He asserts a "legitimate, reasonable expectation of privacy" regarding his data, including usernames, addresses, emails, and customer support interactions.
This legal action parallels a separate case involving James Harper, another Coinbase user who challenged the IRS's 2016 "John Doe" summons that sought extensive user data from the exchange. Harper's case has garnered attention from privacy advocates and technology firms, including Elon Musk's company X, which filed a brief supporting the protection of user data against broad government access without warrants.
How do I report my Coinbase taxes to the IRS?
You must report any gains, losses, or income from your Coinbase transactions to the IRS using Form 8949 and Schedule D for gains/losses, as well as Schedule 1 for income (for Schedule C for self-employed persons).
Report your Coinbase taxes with Koinly
Koinly can automatically import your Coinbase transaction data via SSO, API, or by uploading a CSV file. Once it has your data, Koinly calculates your gains, losses, income, and more, before generating your crypto tax reports to help you easily file with the IRS.
Learn more about how to generate your how to do your Coinbase taxes with Koinly.
FAQs
Why did Coinbase stop issuing 1099-K forms?
Up until 2021 Coinbase issued 1099-K forms before switching to 1099-MISC forms.
Coinbase stopped issuing 1099-K forms as it was creating confusion for users and IRS agents. 1099-K forms are most commonly used by payment settlement networks, and the form details the transaction volume of processed payments to the IRS.
So instead of reporting capital gains and losses, which are the calculations investors generally need for crypto tax reporting, 1099-K instead details your entire transaction volume and reports that figure to the IRS. As you can probably guess, this meant that Coinbase 1099-K forms often hugely inflated the supposed taxable income from crypto transactions.
As a result of Coinbase 1099-K forms, a significant number of investors received CP2000 notices from the IRS incorrectly.
Does Coinbase provide 1099-Bs forms?
No. Coinbase does not issue Form 1099-Bs. As part of the Infrastructure Bill, it was originally thought crypto brokers (including centralized exchanges like Coinbase) would have to start issuing 1099-B forms to the IRS in the future. However, the latest IRS crypto reporting requirements confirm both centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges - including Coinbase - will be required to issue the new 1099-DA form instead.
Do all Coinbase customers receive IRS forms?
No. Only selected US customers may receive a 1099-MISC form from Coinbase if they meet certain criteria. International customers, as in, non-US residents, will not receive a Form 1099.
When does the IRS send a B-Notice?
Coinbase customers may receive an IRS B-Notice if there are any discrepancies with your tax identification number (TIN) and legal name used by Coinbase to file Forms 1099 with the IRS. The B-Notice will:
Prescribe what information is needed to resolve the B-Notice.
Inform you if you are required to provide any additional information beyond updating or correcting your name or TIN
To correct your TIN and/or name, customers will need to contact Coinbase Support. Find out more about the IRS B-Notice.
What happens if you forget to file Coinbase taxes?
The IRS has made it very clear all crypto investments must be reported, and will inevitably be increasing audits as in 2022, the office received a huge budget increase in order to tackle tax evasion, with crypto being singled out as a key focus. Find out more about the penalties for crypto tax evasion.
Can the IRS see my Coinbase wallet transactions?
In short, yes. While your Coinbase wallet is non-custodial and does not require ID verification, any transactions you make using Coinbase Wallet will be publicly visible on the given blockchain. Anyone with your wallet address and a blockchain explorer will be able to view your transactions.
Of course, the IRS may not be able to associate you with your wallet address. However, given you need to on and off-ramp fiat and this is almost always achieved using a centralized exchange like Coinbase, it is not wise to attempt to hide your non-custodial wallet transactions from the IRS.
What is the Coinbase gain/loss form?
The Coinbase gain/loss form is a summary of every disposal of crypto on Coinbase and the resulting capital gain or loss. This form is provided to all Coinbase investors but is not issued to the IRS.
However, if you've transferred crypto to or from Coinbase, your gain/loss form may be inaccurate, as Coinbase will be unable to track your cost basis to calculate your subsequent gain or loss accurately.
From 2026, Coinbase will be required to report capital gains and losses to the IRS using Form 1099-DA.
Is there a Coinbase tax calculator?
Yes. Koinly is a Coinbase tax calculator. Not only can Koinly import your Coinbase transaction history directly from Coinbase itself, but Koinly can also calculate your Coinbase taxes in a format that makes sense for the IRS.
Are Coinbase withdrawals taxable?
Withdrawing your crypto or fiat currency from Coinbase to your own wallet or bank account is not a taxable event.
