Crypto Tax Bill Clears House Panel With $10 Fee Relief

Key Takeaways The committee approved H.R. 10357 by 38 – 5. Relief covers qualifying fees of $10 or less. Underlying transactions can still generate taxable gains. Some professional and high-volume activity is excluded. Fee relief would begin in 2028. A 38 – 5 vote sends the bill to the full House The House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 10357 by a vote of 38–5, with five Democrats voting against it, according to Bloomberg Government. The vote allows the legislation to move to the full House, although House leaders have not announced when it will receive a floor vote. The vote came one day after the Senate failed to advance the broader Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. Although the measures address different parts of crypto policy, their contrasting outcomes suggest that narrower tax provisions may currently have a clearer route through Congress than comprehensive market legislation. The $10 rule removes a gain-or-loss calculation Using cryptocurrency to pay a blockchain fee can count as disposing of that asset under current federal tax treatment. A taxpayer may therefore need to compare the asset’s value when it was acquired with its value when it was used, even when the resulting gain or loss amounts to only a few cents. The committee’s proposed substitute would remove that calculation when digital assets are used to pay qualifying network or transaction fees and the aggregate fee does not exceed $10. What would change for a $4 crypto fee? Under current rules Crypto used to pay the fee is generally treated as a disposal, which may require the taxpayer to calculate a gain or loss based on how the asset’s value changed after it was acquired. If H.R. 10357 becomes law No gain or loss would be recognized on crypto used to pay a qualifying network or transaction fee of $10 or less. The change would apply to disposals after December 31, 2027. What would remain taxable The underlying sale, swap or purchase could still generate a taxable gain or loss. The exception covers the qualifying fee, not every transaction valued below $10. Network and transaction fees follow different rules The bill separates network fees from transaction fees. A qualifying network fee is paid for validating or processing one or more transfers on a blockchain. The total fee associated with the transfer or group of transfers must not exceed $10. A qualifying transaction fee includes brokerage, trading, liquidity and similar charges connected to buying or selling digital assets. For this category, the asset used to pay the fee generally must be the same type as the asset involved in the underlying transaction. The threshold applies to the aggregate fee. Dividing one charge into several smaller payments would not create a separate $10 allowance for each part.