Coinbase's New Tax Reporting Rules Create Visibility Problems

Coinbase users are entering a new tax reporting cycle. For the 2025 tax year, Coinbase began issuing Form 1099-DA for reportable crypto sales and exchanges.

The form tells the IRS about activity Coinbase can see, but it does not provide cost basis information. Users still need to determine what they paid for the assets sold, account for transfers, and combine Coinbase records with activity from every other platform and wallet.

Coinbase's Form 1099-DA includes proceeds from sales and exchanges of crypto assets, including crypto-to-dollar sales and crypto-to-crypto exchanges. Gross proceeds are reported, but not net profit or taxable income.

Transfers between accounts owned by the same person generally are not a taxable sale, but they can create visibility problems for tax reporting. Coinbase may not have reliable information about the purchase price or acquisition date if an asset was purchased on another exchange and later deposited at Coinbase to sell.