House committee releases 114-page crypto tax bill ahead of Wednesday markup
House panel releases 114-page digital asset tax bill
The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday released a 114-page bill that aims to create clearer federal tax rules for digital assets. The bill, called the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, was introduced by committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., and combines several proposals that lawmakers debated at a committee hearing in June.
The committee is scheduled to hold a markup on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. A markup is a session where lawmakers review, amend and vote on a bill before it can move forward.
Key numbers and provisions
- A de minimis exception would let people skip recording a gain or loss on qualifying network or transaction fees paid in crypto, as long as the fee is $10 or less.
- Small deviations from the $1 peg of qualifying U.S. dollar stablecoins (digital tokens designed to hold a steady value against the dollar) would generally be treated as the tax basis when the token is acquired close enough to that value.
- Taxpayers could choose simplified annual accounting for widely traded digital assets.
- Both the fee exception and the accounting change would take effect in 2028.
- Wash-sale rules would be extended to traded digital assets.
- The Treasury Department would have to set up a Digital Asset Voluntary Disclosure Program within 12 months of the law's enactment.
Mining, staking and lending rules
Income from mining (creating new digital assets by validating transactions) and staking (locking crypto to help run a network in exchange for rewards) would generally be taxed as ordinary income. The bill also makes room for certain investment trusts to stake their holdings without that activity alone affecting their tax status.
An earlier mining and staking bill included an option to defer income from certain newly minted digital assets. That option is not in this new bill, even though crypto industry groups had pushed for the earlier version to pass unchanged.
Under the proposed wash-sale rules, a loss could be disallowed if someone sells a traded digital asset and acquires the same or a substantially identical one within 30 days before or after the sale. Separately, qualifying transfers of traded digital assets under lending agreements would not be treated as sales or exchanges.
The bill would also require the Treasury Department to establish a Digital Asset Voluntary Disclosure Program within 12 months of enactment. Taxpayers who qualify could amend earlier returns and settle the tax, interest and any penalties owed.
What is confirmed
The committee has released the bill text and scheduled it for a markup on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. Its confirmed provisions cover crypto transaction fees, stablecoin pricing, mining and staking income, wash sales, lending transfers and a voluntary disclosure program. The fee exception and the accounting change are confirmed to start in 2028.
What is still unclear
The supplied material does not report what happens after Wednesday's markup, so the bill's path beyond the committee is unknown. The bill is a proposal, not a law, and would need to clear further steps before anything changes for taxpayers.
What happens next
The committee is scheduled to hold its markup of the bill on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.