How to get Coinbase tax documents
Koinly can help you do your Coinbase taxes quickly and generate accurate Coinbase tax documents. All you need to do is sign up to Koinly and connect Coinbase automatically via SSO or by uploading a CSV file of your transaction history. Koinly will then calculate your Coinbase gains, losses, income, and more, before generating your crypto tax reports.
Watch how to get your Coinbase tax documents
How are Coinbase transactions taxed?
The tax implications of your Coinbase transactions depend on where you live (read our crypto tax guides for more information in your country). That said, generally speaking, Capital Gains Tax or Income Tax will apply to profits from Coinbase:
Capital Gains Tax: When you dispose of crypto by selling, swapping, or spending it, and make a gain, Capital Gains Tax may apply. Disposals can also include gifting crypto, depending on where you live.
Income Tax: When you earn new coins or tokens on Coinbase, Income Tax may apply. This could apply to things like staking rewards or Learn and Earn rewards on Coinbase.
Does Coinbase automatically deduct taxes?
No, Coinbase does not automatically withhold taxes for its users. You are responsible for tracking your taxable activities and reporting any capital gains or income from your Coinbase transactions to your tax office.
Does Coinbase provide tax documents?
Coinbase provides specific tax documents for US investors only. Otherwise, Coinbase provides a transaction history that users may export to identify any taxable gains or income.
Why aren't my Coinbase tax documents accurate?
If all of your crypto activity took place on Coinbase, including your purchases, and you're in the US, then Coinbase’s tax documents may give you reasonably accurate information. However, this often isn’t the case for many users, largely due to how cost basis is tracked.
Cost basis refers to the original value of your crypto when you acquired it, along with any applicable fees. It’s used to determine gains or losses when you sell, trade, or spend your crypto. If you transferred crypto into Coinbase from another platform or wallet, Coinbase will not have access to the original cost basis, which can result in incomplete or inaccurate tax calculations and inflate your gains or losses.
This limitation isn’t unique to Coinbase. Most crypto platforms currently don’t share cost basis information with each other, making it harder to calculate taxes accurately when assets move between platforms. That’s why many investors turn to a crypto tax calculator like Koinly, which supports more than 900 exchanges, wallets, and blockchains to help consolidate and track your tax data more accurately and effectively.
Does Coinbase report to tax offices?
In short, yes. Most tax authorities globally, including the IRS, are cracking down on crypto tax non-compliance. They’re actively collaborating with major exchanges in their jurisdictions to access KYC data and ensure individuals are accurately reporting their crypto income. Given Coinbase’s size and regulatory presence, it’s highly likely that it has been approached by multiple tax agencies to share user information. You can learn more in our guides:
How do I do my Coinbase taxes?
If you have income or capital gains from Coinbase, you’re required to report it to your country’s tax office, typically as part of your annual tax return.
You can do this manually by identifying taxable transactions, calculating gains or losses, and determining the fair market value of any crypto income.
Alternatively, you can use crypto tax software like Koinly, which imports your Coinbase data via API or CSV, identifies taxable events, calculates your gains, losses, and income, and generates your Coinbase tax documents.
This lets you manage all your crypto transactions - from Coinbase and any other exchanges you use - from one single platform, making crypto tax simple. Here's how to connect.
How to connect Koinly and Coinbase using API
On Koinly
Select add new wallet: Coinbase
Select set up auto-sync
The previous step will take you to the Coinbase website, sign in and authorize access for Koinly
Important
Coinbase & Coinbase Pro are merging soon. If you've previously used Coinbase Pro, you'll still need to sync your Coinbase Pro account separately with Koinly in order to get your complete transaction history - see how here.
The Coinbase API now supports the new 'advanced trade' transactions.
How to integrate Koinly and Coinbase using CSV
You'll need to start by downloading a CSV file with your full trading history from Coinbase before you can upload it to Koinly - here's how.
How to download and export your transaction history CSV file from Coinbase
Sign in to your Coinbase account
Head to your profile in the top right corner and select reports
Select generate report
Next to CSV report, select generate report
How to upload your Coinbase CSV to Koinly
Now you've got your Coinbase CSV file, here's how to upload it to Koinly.
Sign up or login into Koinly and head to the wallets page
Add a new wallet: Coinbase
Select import from file
Upload your Coinbase CSV file
Important
If you've set up 2-factor authentication, your Coinbase account may ask you to verify after you've selected send request. 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.
Your Coinbase CSV file will not contain transactions to and from Coinbase Pro, so you'll need to import a separate CSV file with your Coinbase Pro transactions, if you ever used Coinbase Pro in the past.
Optimize your Coinbase taxes
Smart investors don’t wait until the tax deadline to calculate what they owe. Tools like Koinly can help you spot unrealized losses before the end of the financial year, allowing you to harvest those losses and offset them against gains to reduce your tax bill.
Koinly’s tax optimization features (available in select regions) let you simulate how selling assets would affect your taxes, identify potential tax-saving opportunities, and use an asset maturity dashboard to find assets eligible for lower long-term Capital Gains Tax rates.
Your frequently asked questions
Does Coinbase provide financial or end of year statements?
Do I have to pay taxes on Coinbase?
How to report Coinbase rewards on taxes?
What does Coinbase report to the IRS?
The IRS issued Coinbase with a John Doe summons and won back in 2016 - forcing the exchange to share customer data, though it’s not clear precisely what data was shared. Find out more in our guide, does Coinbase report to the IRS?
What's Coinbase EIN for taxes?
If you receive a 1099-MISC form from Coinbase to report miscellaneous income rewards from crypto on the exchange, you may need Coinbase’s tax identification number, also referred to as an employer identification number (EIN), which is 45-5293997. See more information in Coinbase’s help article.
Does Coinbase have Proof of Reserves?
Coinbase is unique compared to other exchanges as it is publicly listed on the Nasdaq. This means they have to regularly report their assets and liabilities to the market - proving their users’ deposits are held 1:1 by conducting regular audits by an external third party every quarter. See a list of their financial statements here.
For more information, read our post about Proof of Reserves and why it matters to you as a crypto investor.
Do you get a 1099 from Coinbase?
Yes, some users will receive IRS 1099 Forms from Coinbase. Currently, Coinbase only issues 1099-MISC forms to US residents with more than $600 in income on the exchange in a single financial year.
Does Coinbase send tax forms?
The only tax document Coinbase provides users with currently is the 1099-MISC Form. This form is for US residents only, with more than $600 in income. Find out more about Coinbase 1099 forms. Otherwise, you'll need to use your Coinbase transaction history to generate your Coinbase tax documents.
What's a Coinbase Form 8949?
Form 8949 details every single disposal (trade or sale) of crypto you made throughout the financial year, with details like transaction date, amount, proceeds, cost basis, and more. The total capital gains and losses recorded in Form 8949 are then consolidated in Schedule D. Coinbase only issues Form 8949 to Coinbase One subscribers currently. Otherwise, you’ll need to use crypto tax software like Koinly in order to generate your Form 8949 easily.
