The Form 1099-DA tax guide
What the new broker reporting form means for your crypto taxes — and how to make sure you only pay what you actually owe.
What is Form 1099-DA?
Form 1099-DA ("Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions") is the IRS information return that crypto brokers file for their customers, starting with tax year 2025. If you sold or exchanged digital assets through a covered broker, that broker sends a copy to you — and a copy to the IRS.
This is the biggest structural change to crypto tax reporting to date. Before 1099-DA, the IRS relied largely on self-reporting. Now the agency receives your gross proceeds directly from brokers, which means the numbers on your return are checked against the numbers brokers filed.
What the form reports
A 1099-DA generally includes, per transaction or in aggregate:
- Gross proceeds — what you received when you sold or exchanged the asset.
- Cost basis — what you paid, but only if the broker knows it.
- Dates of acquisition and disposal, where available.
- The asset and quantity involved.
The key phrase is "only if the broker knows it." A broker can only report the basis for assets you bought on that platform. Anything you transferred in from elsewhere may show up with missing or zero basis.
The three blind spots that inflate your bill
1. Missing cost basis
If you bought coins on Platform A and sold them on Platform B, Platform B often has no idea what you paid. Its 1099-DA may report the full sale amount with blank or zero basis — which, on paper, makes 100% of the sale look like profit.
2. Wallet transfers that look like disposals
Moving crypto between your own wallets or from an exchange to self-custody is not a taxable event. But when records are fragmented across platforms, those movements can be misread as sales — creating phantom gains.
3. Losses that never appear
A single broker's form only covers that broker. Losing trades on other platforms, DeFi losses, and prior-year loss carryforwards don't appear anywhere on it. Every unclaimed loss is tax you may overpay.
What to do before filing
- Collect every 1099-DA you receive — you may get one from each broker you used.
- Assemble your full history across all exchanges and wallets, not just the ones that sent forms.
- Reconcile basis: match each disposal to its true acquisition cost, wherever the purchase happened.
- Flag transfers between your own accounts as non-taxable movements.
- Document differences: if your return differs from broker-reported figures, keep a clear audit trail explaining why. Software like Basisfyle generates this automatically.
Cost basis methods: FIFO, HIFO, Specific ID
When you sell part of a holding, which "lot" did you sell? The answer changes your gain:
- FIFO (First In, First Out) — the default; the earliest coins you bought are sold first.
- HIFO (Highest In, First Out) — sells the most expensive lots first, typically minimizing current-year gains.
- Specific Identification — you choose the exact lots, which requires records adequate to identify them.
Method availability and requirements depend on current IRS rules and your record-keeping — a good reason to talk to a tax professional about which method fits your situation.
The forms you actually file
- Form 8949 — lists each disposal with proceeds, basis, and gain or loss, and is where you note adjustments to broker-reported figures.
- Schedule D — summarizes the totals from Form 8949 on your return.