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How to file your Coinbase Pro taxes with Koinly

How to do your Coinbase Pro taxes with Koinly 

Formerly GDAX, more than 13 million people are using Coinbase Pro to buy, sell, stake and store more than 250 cryptocurrencies. Whatever your investment strategy on Coinbase Pro, Koinly can help you get your crypto taxes done.

  1. Sign up to Koinly and choose your country and currency
  2. Connect Coinbase Pro with Koinly to import all your Coinbase Pro trades safely and securely
  3. Koinly categorizes Coinbase Pro transactions into gains, losses and income
  4. Koinly calculates your Coinbase Pro Capital Gains Tax and Coinbase Pro Income Tax
  5. Download your Coinbase Pro tax report from Koinly
  6. File your Coinbase Pro taxes online or with your crypto tax accountant

Watch how to do your Coinbase Pro taxes fast 

Coinbase & Coinbase Pro are merging soon, but you'll still need to sync your Coinbase Pro account separately with Koinly in order to get your complete transaction history.

How are Coinbase Pro transactions taxed?

The tax you pay on crypto depends on your transactions and where you live. You can learn more about crypto tax in your country in our crypto tax guides, but in general, you’ll pay either Capital Gains Tax or Income Tax on your crypto (or both!).

  • Capital Gains Tax: Whenever you sell or swap crypto on Coinbase Pro and make a gain, you’ll likely pay Capital Gains Tax on that gain. 
  • Income Tax: If you earned new tokens on Coinbase Pro, this is generally viewed as additional income and subject to Income Tax upon receipt. 

Does Coinbase Pro report to the IRS?

Yes. Coinbase Pro reports to the IRS. Coinbase Pro issues users with more than $600 in income a 1099-MISC to you. Remember - when you get a 1099 form, so does the IRS. 

Coinbase also lost a John Doe summons case to the IRS in 2016. This meant the exchange was legally compelled to share KYC data for some customers with the IRS. Though Coinbase Pro was formerly GDAX - the exchange is an owned property of Coinbase and is subject to the same reporting requirements.

How do I file my Coinbase Pro taxes?

You’ll need to report any capital gains, losses or income from your Coinbase Pro investments to your tax office, generally as part of your annual tax return.

You can do this yourself - but it’s time consuming. You need to identify each taxable transaction on Coinbase Pro, figure out the kind of tax that applies, and calculate any gain, loss or income.

Alternatively, use Koinly to do this for you. Koinly calculates your tax liability and generates your crypto tax report, ready to file with your tax office. Here’s how to connect.

How to connect Koinly and Coinbase Pro automatically

On Coinbase Pro

  1. Log in to your Coinbase Pro account
  2. In the top right corner, select your profile
  3. From the drop down menu, select API
  4. Select +New API Key
  5. Give your API key a name, for example 'Koinly'
  6. For permissions, check view - Koinly only needs read-only access
  7. Create a passphrase for your API key - this is usually automatically generated, but make sure to copy it as you'll need this to input your API key into Koinly
  8. Complete the 2-step verification by entering the code sent to your phone/email
  9. Copy your API key, API secret & passphrase

On Koinly

  1. Sign up or log in to Koinly and go to wallets
  2. Select add new wallet: Coinbase Pro
  3. Select set up auto-sync
  4. Paste your API key, API secret & passphrase
  5. Select secure import

Important

1. If you use Coinbase as well as Coinbase Pro, it's important to sync both wallets so Koinly can identify taxable transactions from transfers. See how to connect Coinbase and Koinly.

2. Coinbase & Coinbase Pro are merging soon, but you'll still need to sync your Coinbase Pro account separately with Koinly in order to get your complete transaction history.

3. If you've synced both Coinbase & Coinbase Pro with Koinly, it's perfectly normal to see transactions from Coinbase Pro to Coinbase even if you never transferred funds. This is because when you send crypto on Coinbase Pro - it is internally sent to your Coinbase account first before being sent on to the intended destination. Don't worry, transfers between your accounts aren't taxable.

How to integrate Coinbase Pro with Koinly using CSV

You'll need to start by downloading a CSV file with your full trading history from Coinbase Pro before you can upload it to Koinly - here's how.

How to download and export your transaction history CSV file from Coinbase Pro 

  1. Log in to your Coinbase Pro account
  2. In the top right corner, select your profile
  3. From the drop down menu, select statements
  4. From the drop down menu titled generate, select accounts
  5. In the pop up, select all accounts from the drop down menu
  6. Select a start and end date- this should cover your entire Coinbase Pro transaction history, for however long you've been using the account
  7. Select CSV from the format drop down menu.
  8. Enter the email you'd like your CSV file to be sent to
  9. Select generate report
  10. Now head back to the statements page.
  11. From the drop down menu titled generate, select fills
  12. In the pop up, select 'All Products' from the drop down menu titled product
  13. Select a start and end date- this should cover your entire Coinbase Pro transaction history, for however long you've been using the account
  14. Select CSV from the format drop down menu.
  15. Enter the email you'd like your CSV file to be sent to
  16. Select generate report
  17. Download your CSV files once they arrive in your email inbox

How to upload your Coinbase Pro CSV to Koinly

Now you've got your CSV file, here's how to upload it to Koinly.

  1. Sign up or log in to Koinly and go to wallets
  2. Select add new wallet: Coinbase Pro
  3. Select import from file
  4. Upload your CSV file

Important

1. Coinbase Pro has two different CSV files - fills and accounts. Your fills file includes all of your trades and this is the file you should use to import all your trades. You can upload your accounts file to Koinly, but Koinly only uses this file to identify deposits and withdrawals and ignores all other data.

2. If you've set up 2-factor authentication, your Coinbase Pro account may ask you to verify after you've selected send request. It's normal for these data requests not to arrive in your inbox immediately. In some instances, it may take a couple of days for your email and attached CSV file to come through, so don't panic if you don't see it straight away.

How do I troubleshoot my Coinbase Pro integration to Koinly?

Problems connecting Coinbase Pro and Koinly? No worries - there's help at hand:

Calculate your Coinbase Pro taxes

Sign up free today to calculate your Coinbase Pro taxes

Does Coinbase Pro have tax documents?

No, Coinbase Pro doesn’t generally provide tax reports for users excluding 1099 forms for some US users.

How do I get Coinbase Pro tax documents?

Coinbase Pro offers 2 easy ways to export your transaction history to connect with crypto tax software - like Koinly - and generate tax forms. Either connect via API or upload a CSV file of your Coinbase Pro transaction history. 

Do you get a 1099 from Coinbase Pro?

Both Coinbase Pro and Coinbase issue 1099-MISC IRS forms if you’re a US resident and you’ve made more than $600 in income. Previously, Coinbase Pro used to issue 1099-K forms if a user had made 200 or more transactions valued at more than $20,000 - however, the exchange stopped doing this as of the 2022 financial year.

When will I get a Coinbase Pro 1099 form?

If you’re going to receive a 1099 form from Coinbase Pro, you should receive it by February of the following financial year at the latest.

Does Coinbase Pro provide financial or end of year statements?

No, Coinbase Pro does not provide an end of year tax statement. But you can use crypto tax software to create one.

Do I have to pay taxes on Coinbase Pro?

Yes. You need to pay taxes on any gain or income relating to your Coinbase Pro investments. 

Does Coinbase Pro report to tax authorities?

Yes. HMRC confirmed they’ve put pressure on Coinbase to share KYC information to ensure tax compliance. It’s likely as one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, other tax offices like the ATO and the CRA are putting similar pressures on Coinbase Pro. 

Is Coinbase Pro safe?

Yes, Coinbase Pro is part of one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the world and is considered a secure and safe platform. However, you should always follow best storage practices for crypto and keep your crypto in a secure, offline wallet if you’re not actively trading.

Is transferring to Coinbase Pro taxable?

No, transferring crypto between exchanges or your own wallets is not a disposal and is therefore not taxable. 

Does Coinbase tax include Coinbase Pro?

Prior to the two platforms merging, Coinbase tax reports did not include any information about Coinbase Pro transactions. Following the merge, any Coinbase tax reports (1099 forms) may include your Coinbase Pro transactions as the advanced trade feature is on the same platform. This said, it very much depends on the 1099 form you receive, for example 1099-MISC forms only include information about income from crypto, not capital gains or losses from crypto. 

How do I avoid paying tax on Coinbase?

You can’t - or you shouldn’t! Tax offices don’t look kindly on crypto tax evasion and it’s a criminal offense. You can learn more in our crypto tax evasion guide, or check out how to legally avoid crypto tax