US House Tax Committee Advances Crypto Tax Overhaul in Bipartisan Vote
House committee votes to rewrite crypto tax rules
The House Ways and Means Committee passed the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act on Wednesday with a 38-5 bipartisan vote. The legislation is designed to reshape how the federal government taxes digital assets. The bill moves forward after a major Senate effort to create broader crypto regulations failed the day before. While the Senate stalled on overall market structure, the House committee focused specifically on modernizing tax codes for new financial activities like staking and stablecoin transactions.
Key provisions in the new bill
The proposed law introduces several major changes to current tax guidelines:
- Stablecoin treatment: It would create specific tax rules for dollar-pegged stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain a steady value tied to the US dollar.
- Wash-sale rules: The bill extends "wash-sale" rules to widely traded digital assets. A wash-sale rule currently prevents investors from claiming a tax loss on a security if they buy a similar one within 30 days; this would apply that logic to crypto.
- Transaction fee exemption: Taxpayers would not have to report gains or losses when using digital assets to pay network or transaction fees of $10 or less. This is known as a de minimis exemption.
- Staking and mining: The legislation establishes new rules for how income from mining and staking digital assets is taxed.
Senate fails to advance broader regulatory bill
The House committee's vote comes just one day after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act. That broader bill would have established a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and clarified the roles of different regulators. A procedural motion to move the bill forward failed 49-50, falling short of the 60 votes needed. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a lead sponsor of the bill, blamed Democrats for the failure. She stated that Democrats had moved the goalposts on proposed consumer protections and restrictions on politicians' personal crypto investments.
Regulators pledge to act anyway
With the legislative path blocked in the Senate, top US regulators said they will proceed using their current legal authority. SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated the agency would continue moving forward on crypto regulation. "With or without legislation, we will act decisively within the SEC’s statutory authority to deliver certainty for American investors," Atkins said. CFTC Chair Michael Selig echoed the sentiment, saying his agency is ready to ship rules for the "new frontier of finance."
What happens next
The approved tax bill now moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration. The broader CLARITY Act may face another attempt during the "lame-duck" session of Congress, which occurs after the November elections but before the new congressional term begins.