Learn
Understand digital asset taxes
Good policy starts with good information. Digital Asset Tax Action publishes research and plain-language education so that taxpayers, practitioners, and policymakers can see how the rules actually work, where they succeed, and where they fall short.
Everything in this section is educational. We explain the law as it stands, present the evidence on both sides of contested questions, and let readers draw their own conclusions.
Guides
Taxation of Digital Assets: How It Works
The foundation: what counts as a digital asset, why property treatment governs everything, which events are taxable, and what goes on which form.
GuideThe Form 1099-DA Guide
What the new broker reporting rules require, when they take effect, and why the first two years demand special attention to your own records.
GuideHow to Report Form 1099-DA on Your Taxes
Where each disposition goes on Form 8949 and Schedule D, how to read the boxes, and what to do when the broker’s figures and your records disagree.
GuideCrypto Cost Basis: How to Calculate It
What basis is, how to work it out, which units count as sold, and how to reconstruct a basis when the exchange that held your history no longer exists.
GuideThe Digital Asset Question on Form 1040: Yes or No?
Where the question sits on page 1, what counts as a digital asset, a situation-by-situation table of when each answer is right, and why “Yes” does not mean you owe tax.
GuideAre Crypto Losses Tax Deductible?
A loss counts when you dispose of the asset, not when the price falls. Netting, the $3,000 limit, carryforwards, and where the numbers go.
GuideCrypto Tax Rates for 2026, Explained
How gains are actually taxed: short- vs. long-term holding periods, the capital gains rates, which events count as ordinary income, and why basis reporting makes this year different.
Q&ACrypto Tax Questions Answered
Clear answers to the questions we hear most: what counts as a taxable event, how losses work, and what current law says when your assets are stolen.
IRS letters
Got an IRS Letter About Crypto? Start Here
Letters 6173 and 6174 and CP2000 notices, decoded in plain language: what each one means, how they differ, and what a response involves.
Letter decoderIRS Letter 6173: The One That Requires a Response
The most serious of the digital asset letters — it requires a signed response by the deadline printed on the letter. What it asks, and what not to do.
Letter decoderIRS Letter 6174-A and 6174: No Response Required
The educational “soft notices”: what the two variants mean, how they differ, and why reconciling your exchange histories and basis records now is the smart move.
Letter decoderThe CP2000 Notice and Crypto: A Mismatch, Not an Audit
Why third-party matching increasingly flags crypto, how proceeds-only reporting inflates proposed tax, and your options: agree, or dispute with basis records.
Situations
I Have Unreported Crypto. What Are My Options?
Why falling behind is common, the current-law menu of amended returns and voluntary disclosure, and why your records come first.
SituationScammed? What Current Law Says About Your Taxes
What current law says about deducting theft and scam losses, the retirement-withdrawal trap, and what victims should document now.
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