ETH Staking Rewards Tax Calculator: Taxable Income, Cost Basis and Sale Gain (2023–2026)

Staking income per 32 ETH, by tax year

32 ETH held as Lido stETH from January 1, with rewards compounding daily at each month’s on-chain stETH APR (after Lido’s 10% fee) and valued at that day’s Coinbase ETH-USD close. “Worth now” uses the $2,386 close on Oct 22, 2026.

Staking yield has fallen every year, from 4.36% in 2023 to 2.37% so far in 2026, as more ETH is staked (see ETH staking APR history). The dollar income depends at least as much on the ETH price on the days you were paid: 2024 paid fewer ETH than 2023 but more dollars, because ETH averaged $3,040 on reward days against $1,787.

How ETH staking rewards are taxed in the U.S.

• Income when received. Revenue Ruling 2023-14 (July 2023) says a cash-method taxpayer includes the fair market value of staking rewards in gross income in the year they gain dominion and control, valued at that date and time. It applies whether you stake directly or through an exchange.
• The Tax Court agrees. In Paschall v. Commissioner (T.C. Memo. 2026-46, June 2026), Cardano rewards credited monthly on eToro were income when credited, even though the taxpayer never sold them. The court based this on section 61 itself rather than on the IRS ruling. It is a memorandum opinion with a pro se taxpayer, so its weight as precedent is limited.
• It is ordinary income. Rewards are taxed at your regular rate (10% to 37% federal), not the 0/15/20% long-term capital-gains rates. Holding them longer doesn’t change that.
• Basis = the income you reported. Each reward gets its own cost basis and its own holding period starting the day you received it. A later sale, swap or spend is reported on Form 8949 and Schedule D like any other crypto disposal. Our crypto tax estimator handles those trades.
• Where it goes on the return. For most individuals it goes on Schedule 1, line 8v, “Digital assets received as ordinary income not reported elsewhere”, and you answer “Yes” to the digital asset question on Form 1040. If your staking amounts to a trade or business, it goes on Schedule C, where self-employment tax can apply.
• Forms you may (not) get. Exchanges report staking rewards on Form 1099-MISC when they reach the threshold: $600 for 2025 and $2,000 for payments made after 2025. Form 1099-DA, issued for broker sales starting in 2025, explicitly excludes rewards and staking payments (what 1099-DA does cover). No form does not mean no income.
• Changes are proposed but not law. Congress has looked at letting stakers defer tax on rewards until they sell them, including a Joint Committee on Taxation option (JCX-18-26) and the proposed PARITY Act. As of October 22, 2026, the receipt rule still applies.

When does a staking reward count as “received”?

The answer depends on how you stake. Only the exchange case is spelled out in IRS guidance; the rest is common practice, not settled law.

The sweep interval is our estimate: 828,206 active validators on our October 20, 2026 count, at up to 16 withdrawals per 12-second block, is about 7.2 days. A pending refund suit, Jarrett v. United States (M.D. Tenn., filed October 10, 2024), argues that rewards a validator creates itself are not income until sold. It was set for trial on September 29, 2026, and we found no reported decision as of Oct 22, 2026. For staking ETFs, see which funds stake on our spot Ethereum ETF comparison.

Taxed on rewards that are now worth less

Because rewards are valued on the day you receive them, a falling ETH price can leave you owing tax on more than the rewards are now worth. Rewards received in 2024 were valued at an average of $3,040 per ETH, and 2025 rewards at $3,041. With ETH at $2,386 on Oct 22, 2026, both years’ rewards are worth about 21% less than the income they created. For 32 ETH that is −$667 for 2024 and −$591 for 2025.

• Those declines are capital losses only when you sell, swap or spend the reward ETH. Until then nothing offsets the income you already reported.
• Net capital losses offset capital gains, then up to $3,000 a year of ordinary income ($1,500 if married filing separately). The rest carries forward (IRS Topic 409).
• Selling only the reward lots, not your original stake, works if you can identify them. That requires records of each reward’s date and value. Many tax tools support specific identification of lots. The ETH tax-loss harvesting calculator estimates the tax saved and covers the proposed crypto wash sale rule.
• Set money aside as rewards arrive. At a 22% bracket, about one-fifth of each reward’s value is owed as federal tax, whatever ETH does later. Large reward income can also mean quarterly estimated payments.

Worried about the price risk itself? Our ETH drawdown history shows how deep and long past declines were, and the staking risks data covers slashing and other protocol risks.

Monthly staking income per 32 ETH (2025–2026)

Income recognised each month on a constant 32 ETH balance, newest first. The full series from January 2023 is in the CSV below. Months when ETH was high on reward days created the biggest tax bills: August to October 2025 each produced about $300 per 32 ETH.

Records to keep for staking rewards

• The date and time of each reward, the amount in ETH, and the receiving address or account.
• The USD price you used and where it came from. Use one consistent source, such as an exchange’s daily close or the price at the time of the transaction.
• For solo validators, keep your validator index, fee-recipient address and withdrawal address, and export the sweep history from a block explorer each year.
• For exchanges, keep the annual 1099-MISC (if any) and the full rewards history export. The 1099 total and your own figure should match.
• Note which lots you later sell, so the basis and holding period on Form 8949 match these records.

New to staking? Start with what Ethereum staking is and Lido vs Rocket Pool vs Coinbase.

Method

• Yield: the monthly Lido stETH APR we measure on-chain from the stETH share rate on the first block of each month (after Lido’s 10% fee). It is a realistic proxy for liquid staking; solo validators earned somewhat more before fees, and exchanges usually less after their commission. You can enter your own APR.
• Prices: Coinbase Exchange ETH-USD daily candles, close at 00:00 UTC, from January 1, 2023 to Oct 22, 2026. Each day’s reward is balance × ((1 + APR)^(1/365) − 1), valued at that day’s close. Exact receipt-time prices would differ slightly.
• Tax: federal income tax only. Extra tax = tax on (other taxable income + rewards) minus tax on other taxable income, using the IRS brackets for each year (Rev. Proc. 2022-38, 2023-34, 2024-40, 2025-32). There is no state tax, self-employment tax, net investment income tax or credits.
• Sale: each day’s reward is a separate lot. It is long-term if sold after the one-year anniversary of its receipt date.

Download the data (CC BY 4.0)

• CSV: monthly staking income per 1 ETH and 32 ETH, Jan 2023 – Oct 2026 (46 rows)
• CSV: yearly staking income and change in value (4 rows)
• JSON: yearly and monthly figures plus the 2023–2026 federal bracket tables

GrowYourEthereum. (2026). ETH Staking Rewards as Taxable Income: Monthly and Yearly, per 1 ETH and 32 ETH [Data set]. Updated October 22, 2026. https://growyourethereum.com/tools/staking-rewards-tax-calculator. Licensed CC BY 4.0.

<a href="https://growyourethereum.com/tools/staking-rewards-tax-calculator">ETH Staking Rewards as Taxable Income: Monthly and Yearly, per 1 ETH and 32 ETH</a> by GrowYourEthereum, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>.

@misc{growyourethereum_eth_staking_rewards_income_2026,
  author       = {{GrowYourEthereum}},
  title        = {ETH Staking Rewards as Taxable Income: Monthly and Yearly, per 1 ETH and 32 ETH},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://growyourethereum.com/tools/staking-rewards-tax-calculator}},
  note         = {Data set, updated October 22, 2026. CC BY 4.0}
}