Crypto Country GuideCrypto rules and tax, country by country

United States: filing and deadlines

Last reviewed: October 2026

On this page
  1. Deadline calendar
  2. Individuals: step by step
    1. Do you have to file?
    2. Crypto in the return
    3. Extension and estimated tax
  3. Companies
  4. What brokers report (Form 1099-DA)
    1. Foreign accounts
    2. International exchange (CARF)
  5. Records to keep
  6. Penalties and voluntary disclosure
  7. Sources
  • The 2025 federal income tax return was due on 15 April 2026; with an automatic extension (Form 4868) it is due on 15 October 2026. An extension to file is not an extension to pay.
  • Every Form 1040 asks whether you received or disposed of a digital asset. Sales and swaps go on Form 8949, which has separate boxes for digital assets from 2025.
  • Brokers report your gross proceeds on Form 1099-DA for sales from 2025, and your basis for assets acquired from 2026. You must report all your transactions even without a form.
  • Filing late costs 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%. Keep records of every purchase until the period of limitations ends for the year you sell.

This page covers when and how to report crypto to the IRS. How the tax is calculated is on personal tax and business tax. States have their own returns and deadlines, which we do not cover. It is general information, not tax advice.

Deadline calendar

The dates below are for the 2025 tax year, filed in 2026, for calendar-year taxpayers. Under IRS rules, a due date on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next business day.

DateWhatWho
15 January 2026Fourth estimated tax payment for 2025Individuals
17 February 2026Brokers furnish Form 1099-DA (and Form 1099-B) for 2025 to customersBrokers
16 March 2026Partnership (Form 1065) and S corporation (Form 1120-S) returns for 2025, or an extension with Form 7004Companies
15 April 2026Form 1040 for 2025 due, or an automatic six-month extension with Form 4868. Corporation return (Form 1120) due, or an extension with Form 7004. FBAR for 2025 due. First estimated tax payment for 2026Individuals, corporations
15 June 2026Form 1040 due for citizens and residents living abroad (automatic two-month extension). Second estimated tax payment for 2026Individuals
15 September 2026Extended Form 1065 and Form 1120-S due. Third estimated tax payment for 2026Companies, individuals
15 October 2026Extended Form 1040 and Form 1120 due. FBAR due with the automatic extensionIndividuals, corporations
15 January 2027Fourth estimated tax payment for 2026Individuals
15 April 2027Form 1040 for 2026 dueIndividuals

Individuals: step by step

Do you have to file?

For 2025 you must file if your gross income is $15,750 or more as a single filer under 65, or $31,500 or more as a married couple filing jointly with both spouses under 65. You must also file if you have more than $400 of net earnings from self-employment, for example from mining or staking as a business. Gross income includes the full sale proceeds of crypto, not only the gain.

Crypto in the return

  1. Answer the digital asset question. Form 1040 asks: “At any time during the tax year, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of a digital asset?” The same question appears on Forms 1040-SR, 1040-NR, 1041, 1065, 1120, 1120-S and 709. If you only bought crypto with dollars and held it, the answer is generally no.
  2. Report sales and swaps on Form 8949, then carry the totals to Schedule D. From 2025, digital assets have their own boxes: G, H or I for short-term and J, K or L for long-term, depending on whether you received a Form 1099-DA and whether it shows basis. If the form shows no basis, use box H or K and enter your own basis.
  3. Report income from staking, mining and airdrops on Schedule 1, or on Schedule C (with Schedule SE for self-employment tax) if it is a business. Gifts of digital assets above the annual exclusion go on Form 709.

You must report your transactions even if you do not receive a Form 1099-DA or another statement.

Extension and estimated tax

Form 4868 gives an automatic six-month extension to file, to 15 October. The IRS stresses that “an extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay”: tax owed is still due on 15 April. If you have large crypto gains or income without withholding, you may need to pay estimated tax during the year, on 15 April, 15 June, 15 September and 15 January.

Companies

  • Corporations (Form 1120): due on the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends, so 15 April for a calendar year. Form 7004 gives an automatic six-month extension.
  • Partnerships (Form 1065) and S corporations (Form 1120-S): due on the 15th day of the 3rd month after the tax year ends, so 15 March (16 March in 2026). Form 7004 gives an automatic six-month extension. Partners and shareholders get their Schedule K-1 by the same date.
  • Corporate estimated tax: on the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, 9th and 12th months of the tax year.

What brokers report (Form 1099-DA)

Brokers that hold digital assets for customers use Form 1099-DA to report sales to you and to the IRS. The rules come from the infrastructure law of 2021 and the final regulations of July 2024:

  • Gross proceeds for sales on or after 1 January 2025. The first forms, for 2025, were due to customers by 17 February 2026.
  • Basis for “a digital asset acquired after 2025 for cash” at that broker (a covered security). For coins bought before 2026, or moved in from another wallet, the broker does not have to report basis, so you work it out yourself.
  • Thresholds. Under optional methods, brokers do not have to report sales of qualifying stablecoins if a customer’s total proceeds are $10,000 or less in the year, or of specified NFTs if they are $600 or less. You still report them yourself.
  • Not covered: decentralized or non-custodial platforms that do not take possession of the assets. A separate rule that would have extended broker reporting to decentralized finance was disapproved by Congress in Public Law 119-5 of 10 April 2025, so it has no force or effect.

For 2025 sales, the IRS said it will not impose penalties on brokers that make good faith efforts to file and furnish accurate Forms 1099-DA (Notice 2024-56), and Notice 2025-33 extended relief from backup withholding to sales in 2026. In March 2026 Treasury and the IRS proposed rules to make it easier for brokers to furnish Forms 1099-DA electronically; at the time of writing (October 2026) they were not final.

Foreign accounts

A US person with foreign financial accounts worth more than $10,000 in total at any time in the year must file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114), due on 15 April with an automatic extension to 15 October. Under FinCEN Notice 2020-2, a foreign account that holds only virtual currency is not currently reportable on the FBAR, unless it also holds other reportable assets; FinCEN has said it intends to propose changing this. Form 8938 for specified foreign financial assets is a separate IRS form; its IRS page does not mention digital assets.

International exchange (CARF)

In a joint statement of 10 November 2023, the US Treasury said it intended to work towards implementing the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, under which countries exchange data from crypto providers. In the final broker regulations of July 2024, Treasury and the IRS said they intend to propose rules so the US can begin exchanging information in 2028 on 2027 transactions. We found no proposed CARF rules in the Federal Register at the time of writing (October 2026).

Records to keep

The IRS FAQs say you must keep records that document your purchases, receipts, sales, exchanges and other disposals of digital assets, and their fair market value. For units you identify for a sale, keep records that support that identification. How long to keep them, according to the IRS:

SituationKeep records for
Normal case3 years
You did not report income that is more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return6 years
A claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction7 years
No return filed, or a fraudulent returnIndefinitely
Records of property, such as crypto you boughtUntil the period of limitations ends for the year in which you dispose of it

For crypto bought years ago, that means keeping the purchase records for as long as you hold the coins, plus at least three years after you sell them.

Penalties and voluntary disclosure

SituationPenalty (as published, October 2026)
Return filed late5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month, up to 25%. For a return more than 60 days late that is required to be filed after 31 December 2025, at least $525 or 100% of the tax due, whichever is smaller
Tax paid late0.5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%
Underpayment through negligence or a substantial understatement (for individuals, more than the greater of 10% of the correct tax or $5,000)20% of the underpayment (accuracy-related penalty)
Form 8854 not filed on expatriation$10,000

If both the late-filing and late-payment penalties apply, the late-filing penalty is reduced by the late-payment penalty. Interest is charged on top. The IRS can remove penalties if you show reasonable cause and acted in good faith.

Forgot to report crypto? For honest mistakes you can file an amended return (Form 1040-X). For willful noncompliance, the IRS Criminal Investigation voluntary disclosure practice lets you come forward through Form 14457, but only before the IRS has started an examination or investigation or received information about your noncompliance from a third party. With Forms 1099-DA arriving since 2026, the IRS increasingly receives such information from brokers.

Sources

This page is general information, not tax advice. Rules, amounts and dates change, so check the official sources above before you act.