Crypto Tax Reporting Gets Complicated as US Brokers Start Reporting Basis

The crypto tax reporting landscape is changing rapidly, and investors are being pushed to maintain accurate transaction records across exchanges, wallets, staking, and decentralized finance (DeFi). The days of relying on a single CSV export from an exchange are numbered. US brokers began reporting gross proceeds from digital asset dispositions on Form 1099-DA for the 2025 tax year, and basis reporting for covered assets starts with 2026 transactions.

As investors become increasingly involved in DeFi, NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and staking, their recordkeeping problems are multiplying. A single DeFi interaction can produce deposits, receipt tokens, reward tokens, fees, and later withdrawals. The tax analysis depends on the transaction's substance, not just the number of lines in a wallet export.

Staking rewards are now considered income when a cash-method taxpayer has dominion and control over them. The fair market value used for income can also establish a basis for a later disposition. If the receipt value is missing, the eventual capital gain calculation can be wrong even when the sale proceeds are correct.