Gains, losses and the tax on your crypto trades — every disposal is an event
| Item | Amount | Treatment |
|---|
Crypto's tax rule is simpler than the ecosystem pretends: the IRS treats it as property, so every disposal — selling for dollars, swapping ETH for SOL, spending it on a laptop, converting to a stablecoin — is a capital-gains event, taxed exactly like stock. What's genuinely different: staking and mining are ordinary income at receipt, record-keeping is on you across wallets, and — the one gift — the wash-sale rule doesn't apply, making crypto loss harvesting uniquely powerful. This calculator runs the numbers for any disposal plus staking income.
| Taxable event | Not taxable |
|---|---|
| Selling for USD; swapping any coin for any coin; spending crypto; converting to/from stablecoins; receiving staking/mining/airdrop/interest rewards (as income); getting paid in crypto (wages) | Buying with USD and holding; transferring between YOUR OWN wallets; donating to charity (deduction, no gain); gifting under $19k/person/yr |
The swap rule surprises everyone: trading BTC→ETH is a sale of BTC at market value, gain or loss realized, even though no dollars appeared. Active DeFi users generate hundreds of taxable events a year — which is why crypto tax software (imports wallets/exchanges, computes lots) is effectively mandatory above casual activity.
Stocks: sell at a loss and rebuy within 30 days, the loss is suspended. Crypto: no such rule under current law — you can sell in a drawdown, bank the loss (offsetting gains + $3,000/yr of income, carrying forward), and rebuy the same coin minutes later, keeping your position and the deduction. Every serious holder should sweep for harvestable losses each December; proposals to close this exist perennially, so use it while written.
Exchanges now issue Form 1099-DA reporting your disposals to the IRS; the 1040's first page asks the digital-asset question under penalty of perjury; and per-wallet basis tracking rules took effect in 2025. The era of unreported crypto ended — the good news is that honest reporting mostly means capital-gains math you can plan around, which is exactly what this calculator and the Capital Gains tool do.
Yes — every swap is a disposal at market value. BTC→ETH with a $6,000 BTC gain owes tax on $6,000 even though you hold no dollars. This is the single most expensive crypto misconception.
Ordinary income at the reward's fair value when you gain control of it; that value becomes the coins' basis. Selling later triggers a second, separate capital gain/loss from that basis. Mining is the same (plus SE tax if it's a business).
Specific identification (choosing which lots you sell) minimizes gains and is allowed with adequate records — per-wallet tracking is required from 2025. FIFO is the default when you can't identify. Crypto tax software handles this; manual spreadsheets fail past ~50 transactions.
Often, but complicated: exchange-bankruptcy losses are typically capital losses when claims resolve; theft losses of investment property have their own rules. Document everything and get professional help — these are real deductions with real paperwork.
Increasingly, yes: 1099-DA reporting from brokers, subpoenaed exchange records, blockchain analytics contracts, and the perjury-backed 1040 question. Amnesty math favors filing amended returns before letters arrive.
Mostly — property rules apply — with a wrinkle: NFTs deemed 'collectibles' face the 28% long-term rate. The NFT Tax Estimator covers the specifics.
Yes — every figure computes locally in your browser; no wallet is connected or queried.
Treat every swap as the sale it legally is, log basis as you go, and harvest losses each December with the rebuy trick stocks are denied. Crypto taxes reward the organized and ambush everyone else — the calculator makes organized cheap.