1099-DA Form: What It Shows and How to Report It (2026)
What is a 1099-DA form? Form 1099-DA is the information return a broker uses to report certain digital-asset sales and dispositions to you and the IRS. It can show the asset, units, disposition date, proceeds, and, when the reporting rules require it, basis and gain-character information. It isn’t a complete crypto tax return. You’ll need to use the form with your own records, calculate basis, and report all required digital-asset income, gains, and losses whether or not you receive a 1099-DA.
For 2025 transactions, brokers were generally required to furnish Form 1099-DA statements to recipients by February 17, 2026.
For 2026 transactions, the general recipient deadline is February 15, 2027. That date is Presidents’ Day, so the deadline moves to February 16, 2027. The IRS says a date that falls on a legal holiday moves to the next business day. Check Publication 1099 and the current Form 1099-DA instructions as the filing season approaches.
Last updated September 23, 2026
This guide explains who may receive Form 1099-DA, what its fields show, and how to reconcile the form with your own transaction records. For the tax treatment behind the numbers, see our guide to how crypto is taxed.
Key takeaways
- Form 1099-DA reports broker information, not your final taxable gain or complete tax return.
- For 2025 transactions, brokers generally did not have to report cost basis.
- For 2026 transactions, basis reporting depends on the applicable covered-asset and reporting rules.
- You still need to report required digital-asset income, gains, and losses even if you do not receive the form.
- Notice 2024-57 provides broker-reporting relief for specified transactions; it is not a tax exemption.
Who gets a 1099-DA?
You may receive Form 1099-DA when a broker reports a covered digital-asset disposition, such as a sale, exchange, or disposition for dollars, property, services, or certain transaction costs. For 2025, the IRS says the reporting requirements generally apply to U.S. brokers. A foreign exchange may not send a 1099-DA, but taxable activity through that exchange still belongs on your return.
The form is not a complete record of every crypto activity. It may not include a self-custody wallet, a decentralized or non-custodial platform, an external exchange that supplied your basis, or income reported under a different rule. Before treating the 1099-DA as complete, build an exchange-and-wallet inventory. You can use crypto tax software such as Koinly or work with a crypto accountant such as Crypto Tax Made Easy.
See our guide to what crypto exchanges report to the IRS and our exchange-specific guides for Coinbase, Gemini, and Binance.US.
What do the boxes on Form 1099-DA mean?
The 2025 recipient form uses these fields. Read each one alongside the broker export and your own records.
| Box or field | What it shows | Reader action |
|---|---|---|
| 1a | Digital Token Identification Foundation code | Confirm the code and asset name identify the same asset. |
| 1b | Name of digital asset | Match it to the broker export. |
| 1c | Number of units disposed of | Check the quantity against the trade or ledger. |
| 1d | Date acquired | It may be blank when units were acquired on different dates, when a noncovered asset's acquisition date is unknown or omitted, or under an optional reporting method. |
| 1e | Date sold or disposed | Use it to determine the tax year and holding period. |
| 1f | Proceeds | Proceeds are not automatically taxable profit. |
| 1g | Cost or other basis | If blank, determine basis from your own books and records. Don't treat blank as zero. |
| 1h | Accrued market discount, when applicable | Review only when the asset is also treated as a debt instrument. |
| 1i | Wash-sale loss disallowed, when applicable | This is relevant to digital assets that are also stock or securities. |
| 2 | Basis reported to the IRS | A checked box means the broker reported the basis shown in box 1g to the IRS. |
| 3a | Gross or net proceeds, when applicable | Follow the form and current instructions. |
| 4 | Federal income tax withheld | Carry it to the return only as the applicable instructions allow. |
| 6 | Short-term, long-term, or ordinary character | Treat it as broker information and reconcile it with the actual lots. |
| 7 | Cash-only proceeds indicator | Review the transaction type. |
| 8 | Broker relied on customer-provided acquisition information | Keep the supporting acquisition records. |
| 9 | Noncovered-security indicator | Basis and other fields may be blank under the rules. |
| 11a to 11c | Optional aggregate reporting for qualifying stablecoins or specified NFTs | Check the transaction count and applicable aggregate amount. |
| 12a to 12b | Units transferred in and transfer-in date | Trace the transferred units to the original acquisition and basis. |
A proceeds figure is not your gain. To calculate gain or loss, you need the relevant basis and transaction details from your records.
Is cost basis reported on Form 1099-DA?
For sales effected in 2025, brokers were not required to report cost basis, although a broker could voluntarily provide it. For sales effected on or after January 1, 2026, the IRS instructions require basis reporting for covered digital assets and allow different treatment for noncovered assets and qualifying optional-reporting transactions. Coinbase publishes its reporting choices for the transition. Kraken and Crypto.com publish theirs too.
If box 1g is blank (as many 2025 statements are), don’t enter zero on Form 8949 unless your actual records establish a zero basis. Reconstruct basis from acquisition records, transfer records, fees, and the units disposed of. Revenue Procedure 2024-28 provides transition guidance for allocating unused basis to digital assets held in wallets or accounts as of January 1, 2025. It doesn’t remove the need to maintain transaction records with crypto tax software or a crypto accountant.
Does a 1099-DA cover DeFi and self-custody activity?
Not necessarily. IRS Notice 2024-57 temporarily identifies wrapping and unwrapping, liquidity-provider transactions, staking transactions, certain digital-asset lending, short sales, and notional-principal contracts for which brokers don’t have to furnish Form 1099-DA until further guidance. The notice is a broker-reporting rule, not a tax exemption. The underlying activity may still create income, gain, loss, or another reporting obligation.
Non-custodial platforms and self-custody wallets may also fall outside the current broker-reporting system. Keep those records and apply the tax rules to the actual transaction. The absence of a form doesn’t settle how the transaction should be reported.
How do you report a 1099-DA on your tax return?
The practical method depends on how you’re filing. Many of our clients use crypto tax software such as Koinly or Awaken and upload their 1099-DA (if the software supports it). Koinly accepts 1099-DA uploads, but that doesn’t guarantee every Form 8949 line matches the broker statement. We usually reconcile the form for clients by identifying the disposed tax lots and checking proceeds (and basis for 2026 transactions) against the 1099-DA. Awaken offers a 1099-DA reconciliation flow.
If you want to do it manually, the steps look like this:
- Download every 1099-DA and the original broker export.
- Inventory every exchange, wallet, broker, and crypto-related income source.
- Match each form line to the underlying disposition. Identify transfers between accounts you control.
- Reconstruct basis, acquisition date, fees, and holding period for each lot.
- Report reconciled capital transactions on the applicable IRS forms, generally including Form 8949 and Schedule D for a capital disposition.
- Keep the forms, exports, basis schedule, corrected forms, and explanation of material differences together.
Form 1099-DA proceeds aren’t automatically the gain. The IRS says taxpayers must calculate basis before filing and report required digital-asset income, gains, and losses whether or not a broker supplies a form. Our step-by-step crypto tax filing guide covers the broader return process.
What if a 1099-DA is wrong or arrives after filing?
Compare the form with the broker export and your complete records. If the filer reported an incorrect asset, date, quantity, proceeds, or another field, contact the issuer listed on the form and request a corrected form. Keep the original and corrected forms, along with your correspondence.
Don’t wait for a corrected form to begin reconciling your records. If the correction changes a return you’ve already filed, ask a qualified tax professional whether an amended return or another response is appropriate. The IRS says it can’t correct the broker’s form; the issuer must address the information-return error.
Form 1099-DA FAQs
Do I need a 1099-DA to file crypto taxes?
No. A 1099-DA is an information return, not a prerequisite for filing. Reportable digital-asset income, gains, and losses must be reported whether or not a broker sends the form.
Is a blank 1099-DA basis zero?
No. A blank basis field means you may need to determine basis from your own records. Don’t copy proceeds into the gain field or treat missing basis as zero without evidence.
What is the 1099-DA deadline?
For 2025 Forms 1099-DA, the IRS 2025 general instructions set the recipient-furnishing deadline at February 17, 2026. Verify the current IRS instructions for later tax years.
Is a 1099-DA the same as a 1099-B?
No. Brokers generally use Form 1099-DA to report digital-asset dispositions and Form 1099-B for other reportable broker transactions. Certain specified digital-asset and contract transactions still use Form 1099-B. Use the form you receive and follow its instructions.
Does a 1099-DA include DeFi transactions?
Not automatically. Current broker reporting doesn’t make a complete record of non-custodial, self-custody, or every DeFi transaction. Those transactions still require separate analysis and reporting when taxable.
1099-DA filing checklist
Before filing, reconcile the broker form with your complete transaction records.
- Collect every Form 1099-DA and the related broker export.
- List each exchange, broker, wallet, and crypto-income source you used.
- Match each reported disposition to the transaction and distinguish transfers between accounts you control.
- Reconstruct basis, acquisition dates, fees, and holding periods from your own records.
- Report required transactions on the applicable tax forms and explain material differences.
- Keep original and corrected forms, exports, and your reconciliation workpapers together.
Need help reconciling your records? The CTME Client Impact Study reports $100.2M in overstated capital gains corrected and $30.8M in estimated tax saved across 802 client-years from 2021 through 2026. Request a free quote.
Keep reading
- How to file your crypto taxes the step-by-step filing walkthrough.
- Tokenized stock tax why a tokenized security carries a CUSIP and a box 1i wash sale figure that native crypto never gets.
About the author and reviewer
Founder of Crypto Tax Made Easy. Matt has worked in crypto tax since 2017, leading reconciliation work across DeFi, cost basis cleanup, exchange tax forms, and tax software reviews. CTME has reconciled 6.7M+ transactions for 1,410+ investors, and Matt has appeared with Binance and spoken at the Australia Crypto Convention.
US tax reviewer for CTME content that includes IRS or state tax implications. Michael reviews US tax treatment, reporting, and compliance references.
This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, accounting, or other professional advice. Tax rules change and individual circumstances differ. Consult a qualified tax professional about your specific situation before acting on anything here. Any reliance on this content is at your own risk.