Form 1099-DA Explained for ETH Holders: What Brokers Report for 2025 and 2026 Sales

What Form 1099-DA is

Form 1099-DA, “Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions,” comes from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which added digital assets to the broker reporting rules in Code section 6045. The final regulations (TD 10000, July 9, 2024) require brokers to report gross proceeds for sales on or after January 1, 2025, and basis for certain sales on or after January 1, 2026 (IRS: Digital assets).

A “broker” here means a business that takes custody of your crypto and sells it for you: centralized exchanges, hosted wallet apps, crypto ATMs (kiosks) and some payment processors. Only U.S. digital asset brokers must file. The IRS notes that people who trade on exchanges based outside the U.S. may not get a 1099-DA, but must still report those trades.

A “sale” is wider than selling for dollars. Swapping ETH for another token, using ETH to pay the broker’s fee or to buy something through the broker, and settling a crypto contract all count. Each sale is reported on its own form line. Brokers had to send 2025 statements by February 17, 2026 (FS-2025-06).

2025 vs 2026: what changes on the form

Sources: 2025 instructions (“not required to report basis information with respect to sales effected in 2025”), 2026 instructions and Notice 2025-33. Backup withholding relief continues in 2027 for customers whose name and TIN match IRS records.

Covered vs noncovered ETH: why your basis may still be blank in 2026

For 1099-DA purposes ETH is a covered security only if you acquired it after 2025, in an account where that broker held it for you, and it stayed there until the broker sold it. Then the broker must report basis and check box 2.

Everything else is noncovered, including ETH that:

• you bought before January 1, 2026, even at the same exchange;
• you transferred in from a hardware wallet, MetaMask or another exchange;
• the broker did not hold in custody when you acquired it.

For noncovered ETH the broker may leave basis blank and check box 9. If it fills basis in anyway, that is voluntary. The IRS’s own example: ETH-like units bought in April 2022, April 2026 and August 2026 and all sold in June 2027 produce three forms. The August 2026 units are short-term with basis, the April 2026 units are long-term with basis, and the 2022 units are noncovered.

Transferring in matters most for long-time holders. If you move ETH bought in 2021 from a hardware wallet to an exchange to sell, the form shows the units and the transfer date (boxes 12a and 12b), not your 2021 cost. The broker may use purchase records you give it to choose which lots were sold, but the IRS does not let it report them as basis (broker reporting FAQs Q3 and Q7).

What gets reported, by ETH transaction

The 16 situations ETH holders hit most often, with the form you should expect and the Form 8949 box. Thresholds are per broker per calendar year.

Notes and the exact IRS source for each row are in the CSV and JSON below. “Optional method” rows apply when the broker chooses aggregate reporting for stablecoins or NFTs.

Form 1099-DA box by box

Reporting your 1099-DA on Form 8949 and Schedule D

1. Sort by box. From tax year 2025 crypto has its own Form 8949 boxes: G, H, I (short-term) and J, K, L (long-term). Don’t use C or F for digital assets (Form 8949 instructions).
2. Copy proceeds exactly. Enter box 1f in column (d). If box 2 is checked, enter the broker’s basis from box 1g in column (e).
3. Add missing basis. For H/K rows, enter your own cost (purchase price plus fees) from exchange exports or wallet records. The crypto tax estimator helps total the gain.
4. Fix errors with column (g). If the broker’s basis or lot is wrong and it won’t correct the form, keep its numbers in (d)/(e) and put the adjustment and code in (f)/(g).
5. Add what has no form. DeFi swaps, foreign-exchange sales and spending from your wallet go in box I or L.
6. Shortcut. If all your 1099-DAs show basis reported, nothing in 1h or 1i, no Ordinary box, and you have no adjustments, you can report the totals directly on Schedule D (Exception 1).

Losses still offset gains and up to $3,000 of ordinary income a year. See how much harvesting could save with the ETH tax-loss harvesting calculator.

What a 1099-DA does not cover (and the DeFi broker rule)

• Staking rewards. “Do not report rewards and staking payments on Form 1099-DA.” They are income when received; see the staking rewards tax calculator.
• Wrapping, staking, lending, LP and short sales. Notice 2024-57 lets brokers skip these until further guidance. Rewards earned in them are not covered by that exception.
• DeFi front ends. The IRS finalized a rule on December 30, 2024 (TD 10021) that would have treated some DeFi front-end operators as brokers. Congress passed H.J. Res. 25 (House March 11, Senate March 26) and it became Pub. L. 119-5 on April 10, 2025: the rule “shall have no force or effect.” The IRS removed it from the regulations effective July 11, 2025 (Federal Register). Under the Congressional Review Act the IRS cannot reissue a substantially similar rule without new legislation.
• Non-U.S. exchanges. The 2024 regulations reserved rules for non-U.S. brokers until the U.S. adopts the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF).
• Spot ETH ETFs. ETF shares are reported on Form 1099-B like stocks. See our spot ETH ETF comparison.

None of this changes what is taxable. The IRS’s words: “Whether or not you receive a Form 1099-DA, you must report all income, gains and losses from digital asset transactions” (Understanding your Form 1099-DA).

If your 1099-DA is wrong or doesn’t match your records

• Contact the broker in the “Filer” box for a corrected form and keep copies. The IRS can’t correct a 1099-DA and says not to wait to file.
• Lot mismatch in 2026. Many exchanges could not yet take specific lot instructions. Notice 2026-20 lets you identify lots in your own books, or by a standing order, through December 31, 2026, and warns that the broker’s reported date and basis may then differ from yours. Report your figures and adjust in column (g).
• Wallet-by-wallet basis. Since January 1, 2025 basis is tracked per wallet or account, not across all your holdings. Rev. Proc. 2024-28 covered the one-time allocation of unused basis as of that date.
• Default is FIFO. Without a timely identification the broker reports the earliest units bought first, which for long-term holders often means the cheapest lots and the biggest gain.

1099-DA timeline

Pending: the House crypto tax bill would trim 1099-DA reporting for stablecoins, small fees and accounts using a simplified election, for statements due after 2027. It is not law; see the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act explained.

Method

• Rules come from the IRS’s 2025 and 2026 Instructions for Form 1099-DA, the 2026 form, the broker reporting FAQs, Notices 2024-57, 2025-7, 2025-33 and 2026-20, the 2025 Form 8949 instructions and Pub. L. 119-5, all read on October 23, 2026.
• The checker and table simplify the rules for a typical U.S. individual holding ETH. Edge cases (tokenized securities, options, real estate paid in crypto, exempt recipients) are left out.
• The blank-basis estimate uses one flat rate you choose. It ignores the net investment income tax, state tax and bracket effects.

Download the data (CC BY 4.0)

• CSV: 16 ETH transaction types with form, proceeds, basis, Form 8949 box, threshold, note and IRS source
• JSON: rules, box-by-box guide, thresholds, Form 8949 codes, status and timeline

GrowYourEthereum. (2026). Form 1099-DA Reporting Rules for ETH Holders by Transaction Type (U.S.) [Data set]. Updated October 23, 2026. https://growyourethereum.com/guides/form-1099-da-explained. Licensed CC BY 4.0.

<a href="https://growyourethereum.com/guides/form-1099-da-explained">Form 1099-DA Reporting Rules for ETH Holders by Transaction Type (U.S.)</a> by GrowYourEthereum, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.

@misc{growyourethereum_form_1099_da_reporting_rules_2026,
  author       = {{GrowYourEthereum}},
  title        = {Form 1099-DA Reporting Rules for ETH Holders by Transaction Type (U.S.)},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://growyourethereum.com/guides/form-1099-da-explained}},
  note         = {Data set, updated October 23, 2026. CC BY 4.0}
}