House crypto tax bill offers $10 fee exemption, tightens wash sale rules

The House Ways and Means Committee has released a 114-page crypto tax package that would exempt certain network fees under $10 from tax while extending wash-sale rules to digital assets ahead of a Sept. 16 committee markup. Summary The House crypto tax package would exempt qualifying blockchain network and transaction fees under $10 from tax, with users making more than 5,000 annual transfers excluded. Wash sale and constructive sale rules would be extended to digital assets, while qualified U.S. dollar stablecoins would remain exempt. Mining and staking tax deferral remains a key point of dispute, with House Republicans considering whether to retain, remove or limit the proposed treatment. The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to consider the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act during its Sept. 16 markup. Bloomberg Government reported on Sept. 15 that committee Chair Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, released the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act on Monday night after lawmakers spent months working on separate proposals covering the tax treatment of digital assets. The package incorporates provisions developed through earlier Republican proposals and bipartisan legislation from Reps. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., and Max Miller, R-Ohio. It covers small crypto transactions, gain and loss calculations, transfers, wash sales, mining, staking and broker requirements. Committee documents show H.R. 10357 is scheduled for markup at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Lawmakers will consider it alongside several unrelated tax and health care measures before deciding whether to advance the legislation. Crypto tax bill would exempt some fees under $10 One provision would remove tax on qualifying network and transaction fees worth less than $10, addressing small blockchain costs that can currently create tax reporting requirements. The exemption would not be available to every user. Anyone who completed more than 5,000 transfers during the previous year would be excluded, keeping the carve-out away from accounts with particularly high transaction activity. Small transactions have been part of the House tax debate for months. In June, crypto.news previously reported that lawmakers were considering crypto tax proposals intended to reduce filing requirements for digital asset users while setting rules for areas including mining, staking and routine transactions. You might also like: South Korea investors seek two-year crypto tax delay Current U.S. tax treatment generally treats digital assets as property, meaning disposals can produce taxable capital gains or deductible losses. Crypto-to-crypto swaps and payments using digital assets can count as disposals, while transaction costs paid in tokens can create their own tax calculations. The reporting system has become more detailed as broker requirements take effect. IRS crypto tax rules require wallet-by-wallet basis tracking, while brokers began reporting gross proceeds on Form 1099-DA for the 2025 tax year. Cost-basis reporting is being phased in for transactions during 2026.