Form 1099-DA Tax Forms: Expert Guide
Crypto investors will receive Form 1099-DA in early 2026, but forms are likely to be incorrect. We’ve teamed up with Garrett Taylor, the Head of Tax at Count on Sheep, to cover everything you need to know, including what the 1099-DA will report, who'll get one and when, how to deal with errors in your 1099-DA form, and how 1099-DAs work with Koinly.
Key points
Form 1099-DA is the first-ever IRS tax form purpose-built for digital assets. It will report capital gains and losses for each transaction and asset on a given platform.
Centralized exchanges will issue Form 1099-DA from January 2026. Both the IRS and investors will receive a copy.
All centralized crypto exchanges are required to issue 1099-DA from 2026, but for transactions in 2025, they are not required to include cost basis.
This exclusion will mean that many investors' 1099-DA figures are inaccurate (but you can upload them to Koinly, and it'll give you accurate figures!)
The deadline to receive 1099-DA forms was February 17, 2026, but many exchanges have missed this deadline and requested an extension until mid-March.
What is Form 1099-DA?
1099-DA (officially called Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transaction) is a new IRS tax 1099 form designed for reporting cryptocurrencies.
From 2026, any business defined as a crypto 'broker' will be required to issue 1099-DA forms for transactions made in the 2025 financial year.
Which crypto exchanges will send 1099-DA forms?
Any business defined as a crypto broker is required to issue a 1099-DA. Brokers include:
Digital asset trading platforms, like centralized crypto exchanges, like Coinbase, Binance, Crypto.com, Kraken, and Gemini.
Digital asset payment processors, like Coinbase Commerce or BitPay.
Digital asset hosted wallet providers, like any third-party crypto custodians.
Previously, the definition of a crypto broker included decentralized platforms, but the Senate voted to revoke this inclusion in 2025.
What’s included in Form 1099-DA?
Your 1099-DA will look like this:
As you can see, it will include information on:
You, including your TIN, name, and address
The type of asset, number of assets, acquisition date, and sale/disposal date, as well as specific sections for aggregated transactions for stablecoins and NFTs
The cost basis of the asset and the proceeds from the transaction
Whether the transaction resulted in a wash sale loss
Whether the gain or loss is short-term or long-term
1099-DA will be the most common IRS form from 2026, but exchanges may still issue other types of 1099 forms, such as the 1099-MISC form for reporting miscellaneous income from crypto.
Stablecoins on 1099-DA
Brokers can aggregate stablecoin transactions on your 1099-DA. This means instead of reporting all your transactions, your gross proceeds for qualifying stablecoin transactions will be reported instead. As well as this, brokers are not generally required to report stablecoin transactions under $10,000.
Despite this reporting threshold for brokers, stablecoins are still treated as property for tax purposes under the current IRS guidance. Even if a 1099-DA is not issued (because you're under the threshold), you are responsible for reporting any gains or losses on Form 8949.
Who will receive a 1099-DA?
Any investor who has made a disposal on a centralized crypto exchange (or other broker) will receive a 1099-DA form. Disposals include selling, trading, and spending crypto.
This means investors may end up with multiple 1099-DA forms, both from different platforms and for different assets and transactions on each platform, where those transactions cannot be aggregated.
When will I get a 1099-DA form?
The deadline to receive 1099-DAs was February 17, 2026. However, many exchanges have missed this deadline. The IRS has been clear that no exchange will be penalized for filing 1099-DAs late in 2026. Many exchanges have now estimated mid-march as a deadline, including Coinbase and Kraken. Other exchanges are yet to issue a comment on why these have been delayed.
Why is my 1099-DA incorrect?
It's highly likely that the majority of 1099-DAs issued in 2026, for transactions in the 2025 financial year, will be incorrect.
This is because brokers are not required to report cost basis information for 2025 for non-covered assets. This was a relief, which was granted as many platforms simply hadn't had time to adapt to the new rules between when they were proposed and when they came into effect at the start of 2025.
What's a covered asset?
These are crypto assets bought on or after January 1, 2026, and kept on the same exchange until sold.
For covered assets, an exchange will report both the sale amount and cost basis to you and the IRS on Form 1099-DA, starting with the 2026 tax year (filed in 2027). You should still review the form to make sure the cost basis is correct.
What's a non-covered asset?
These are crypto assets that an exchange doesn’t report cost basis for to the IRS. This includes:
Crypto bought before January 1, 2026
Crypto transferred in from another wallet or exchange (since the original purchase details aren’t available)
For these assets, exchanges will report the sale amount on Form 1099-DA, but leave the cost basis blank and mark it as “noncovered.” You are responsible for tracking and reporting your cost basis, as well as calculating any gain or loss. Some exchanges have added functionality to amend your cost basis in their respective tax centers, but there is no obligation on exchanges to report these amendments to the IRS for transactions in the 2025 financial year.
How do I know if my 1099-DA is accurate?
As brokers aren't required to report basis, your 1099-DA may report your gross proceeds as opposed to your net proceeds:
Gross proceeds: The total amount of money received from a transaction before any costs or deductions are applied.
Net proceeds: The amount a seller keeps after all transaction-related costs and fees are deducted.
If your cost basis in section 1g of 1099-DA is zero, then this should be reflected in section 3a, with gross proceeds selected. This means your 1099-DA will be reporting your entire proceeds from a given transaction(s), not your capital gain or loss.
Because of the limited data exchanges have on your assets if you've transferred them on and off the platform, other sections of your 1099-DA that may be incorrect include:
1d (date acquired)
1i (wash sale loss disallowed)
6 (short or long-term gain or loss)
Investors, or their accountants, must be vigilant in checking that their 1099-DAs are accurate and correcting any inaccuracies. The onus is on you to report your crypto accurately.
What do I do if my 1099-DA is incorrect?
You'll still need to report crypto gains and losses, which may or may not be reported on your 1099-DA, on Form 8949 and Schedule D as you have in previous years. This form has been updated for 2026 to include new check boxes for both short and long-term gains reporting sections:
(C) Short-term transactions, other than digital asset transactions, not reported to you on Form 1099-B or Form 1099-DA
(G) Short-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA showing basis was reported to the IRS
(H) Short-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA, showing basis was not reported to the IRS
(I) Short-term digital asset transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-DA or Form 1099-B
(F) Long-term transactions, other than digital asset transactions, not reported to you on Form 1099-B or Form 1099-DA
(J) Long-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA showing basis was reported to the IRS
(K) Long-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA, showing basis was not reported to the IRS
(L) Long-term digital asset transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-DA or Form 1099-B
So, whether you have an incorrect 1099-DA that doesn't report your basis and only reports gross proceeds, or whether you have transactions that weren't reported by a broker (i.e., DeFi transactions), you can report this in your 8949 as you usually would.
Can I correct my 1099-DA?
This very much depends on the exchange you're using. A couple of exchanges have implemented ways to manually enter your cost basis when these records are inaccurate or missing, and in these instances, you may be able to edit your 1099-DA. Similarly, if your personal details on your 1099-DA are incorrect, you should reach out to your exchange's customer support to resolve this.
However, even exchanges that have implemented a way to edit 1099-DA information are not required to report basis to the IRS in 2025. As such, and given the huge administrative burden exchanges are already facing from the new rules, many exchanges may opt not to utilise these amendments.
Do I need to make an adjustment to my cost basis?
If you want to pay taxes accurately, then yes. Your 1099-DA may under- or over-report your cost basis. You can amend your cost basis in Form 8949 by entering the correct cost basis and date acquired in columns (b) and (e) of the form. You do not need to use the adjustment columns to do this.
A crypto tax calculator can help you do this more accurately.
Am I going to be audited for an incorrect 1099-DA?
Given that the IRS has given brokers an exclusion for basis reporting in 2025, logic would dictate that the IRS is aware that there are going to be many inaccurate 1099-DA forms. As such, it seems unlikely the IRS will issue notices over expected discrepancies. Instead, it's far more likely that the IRS will be utilising 1099-DAs to target investors who are entirely omitting or underreporting disposals or gains.
As usual, the best way to avoid an IRS crypto tax audit is to keep good records and report accurately.
Can I file without my 1099-DA?
It's not advisable to file without your 1099-DA.
Given that many exchanges have delayed releasing 1099-DA forms until mid-March, many investors are considering whether they can file without their 1099-DA forms.
However, without it, you won't be able to check the correct filing box (G/H/I/J/K/L) on Form 8949, and this may cause complications with your filing, including potential further queries from the IRS.
If you've still not received a 1099-DA, one option is to file for an extension using Form 4868. This will automatically give you until October 15 to file your tax return, giving you more time to file accurately with your 1099-DA forms.
Will Form 1099-DA contain everything I need to file crypto taxes?
No. Even ignoring the potential missing or incorrect information around cost basis, Form 1099-DA will only cover disposal transactions made on centralized exchanges (and other crypto broker platforms), meaning many transactions will not be reported on this form. This includes transactions made via self-hosted wallets, like DeFi transactions, as well as income from crypto, like mining or staking rewards (although some of these may be included on Form 1099-MISC).
Will Form 1099-DA make it easier to file crypto taxes?
No, if anything, it's made it harder.
The IRS was repeatedly warned by industry experts and accountants that Form 1099-DA would create an undue reporting burden on both exchanges and investors. The form has created filing uncertainty for many investors, and many exchanges are struggling to issue forms in time for the tax deadline.
In more recent updates, the IRS and U.S. Treasury proposed new regulations in March 2026 to modernize how digital asset brokers deliver tax reporting statements (Form 1099-DA) to customers, by enabling a fully electronic delivery model. Given the confusion around filing this year, it's unlikely this alone will solve the many challenges for filing next year.
How does Koinly deal with 1099-DAs?
To help make filing less painful for our users this tax season, we've now added the ability to upload your 1099-DA forms to Koinly. You can find this feature in the tax reports section.
Just download your 1099-DA(s) from your exchange(s), and upload them directly to Koinly. Koinly uses this information to autofill the relevant sections of your reports, like the relevant checkboxes on Form 8949. You can see more detailed instructions in our 1099 help guide.
Once your 1099-DAs are uploaded to Koinly (and your transaction data is imported via API or CSV as usual), download your reports and file as you usually would, or hand your reports over to your accountant.
FAQs
Does the inclusion of Section 1i 'Wash Sale Loss Disallowed’ mean wash sale rules now apply to crypto?
The inclusion of the ‘wash sale loss disallowed’ section does not explicitly state that the wash sale rule now applies to cryptocurrencies as it does for stocks. Rather, some tokenized digital assets that double as stocks or securities may now be subject to traditional wash sale limitations.
Will Section 6 ‘Short or Long-term Gain or Loss’ be correct on my 1099-DA?
Given that brokers have no means of knowing the holding period of an asset if you’ve transferred it on or off the platform, it’s possible there will be errors for many investors on section 6 of their 1099-DA, as many brokers may default to checking short-term as the conservative approach. You should check every 1099-DA form, including section 6, for accuracy to avoid under- or over-reporting gains or losses.
Why was Form 1099-DA created?
In theory, to simplify crypto tax reporting and enforce compliance. The IRS has been attempting to increase crypto tax compliance for many years. One of the main issues faced was that existing 1099 forms weren't fit for purpose for reporting crypto assets, and where exchanges had previously followed guidance to issue forms like 1099-B or 1099-K, it created more confusion. As such, the 1099-DA form was designed specifically for digital assets. Despite it being purpose-built for crypto, though, the form isn't without its issues.
What are the problems with Form 1099-DA?
Form 1099-DA has faced strong criticism from industry experts. Key concerns include cost basis tracking and an increased tax reporting burden for both investors and businesses.
Cost basis
Cost basis is what you paid for an asset, plus fees, and it’s required to calculate capital gains or losses when you sell.
If an investor used only one exchange, that platform could accurately report cost basis on a 1099-DA. In reality, most crypto investors use multiple exchanges, wallets, and platforms, often transferring assets between them.
When crypto is bought on one platform, stored in a wallet, and later sold on another exchange, the selling exchange has no visibility into the original cost basis. As a result, the capital gains and losses reported on the 1099-DA may be incorrect. At the same time, platforms involved only in transfers may not know whether a taxable disposal occurred.
This highlights a broader issue: 1099-DA does not fully solve the same reporting problems traditional 1099 forms face with crypto. While data sharing between platforms could help, implementing such a system accurately in the short term has been extremely difficult.
Identifying taxable transactions
Cost basis isn’t the only challenge exchanges face when it comes to accurately reporting proceeds, gains, and losses, as exchanges also face the additional challenge of identifying taxable transactions.
For example, spending crypto may not be identified as a taxable transaction on your 1099-DA, despite the clear IRS guidance that it is a taxable transaction.
Undue tax reporting burden
Critics also argue that 1099-DA creates excessive reporting burdens.
For individuals, receiving multiple, and likely inaccurate, 1099-DA forms means more reconciliation work. Even when taxpayers file correct returns, mismatches with IRS-received forms could trigger further inquiries or even audits.
For businesses classified as crypto brokers, issuing these forms may create a significant administrative burden that many are not equipped to handle.
