1099-B vs 1099-DA — What the New Crypto Tax Form Changes for 2026

For years, crypto investors filed taxes in a strange limbo: exchanges sent inconsistent forms, or none at all, and you were left reconstructing every trade from CSV exports and blockchain explorers. That era is ending. Digital asset brokers now issue a dedicated IRS form — the 1099-DA — and if you trade both stocks and crypto, you're about to receive two different documents that look similar but follow different rules.

The 1099-DA ("Digital Asset Proceeds from Broker Transactions") is the crypto counterpart to the stock world's 1099-B. They share DNA — both report what you sold and for how much — but the 1099-DA has its own quirks: a phased rollout of cost basis reporting, an "unknown" basis problem that dwarfs anything in the stock world, and blind spots around wallet transfers that can make the numbers look wrong. This guide compares the two forms and shows you how to file when you're holding both.

The Same Idea, Two Different Forms

At the core, both forms do the same job:

• 1099-B reports sales of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and options by traditional brokers.
• 1099-DA reports sales and exchanges of digital assets — crypto, and certain tokens — by digital asset brokers (centralized exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and others).

Both report gross proceeds, feed into Form 8949 and Schedule D, and follow the same basic capital-gains framework: proceeds minus basis equals gain, short-term or long-term by holding period. If you've filed stock trades before, the shape is familiar — the same Form 8949 and Schedule D flow applies to crypto gains.

The Rollout: Proceeds First, Basis Later

The single most important thing to understand about the 1099-DA is that it's being phased in, and cost basis is the last piece to arrive:

• The first 1099-DA forms report gross proceeds — what you sold digital assets for.
• Cost basis reporting is phased in afterward, meaning early 1099-DA forms may show proceeds with little or no basis.

That means, especially in the transition years, a 1099-DA can look a lot like a stock 1099-B for a noncovered security — proceeds present, basis blank or marked "unknown." You supply the missing basis yourself, exactly as you would for any noncovered security with missing cost basis.

The "Unknown" Basis Problem Is Bigger in Crypto

In the stock world, missing basis is usually confined to old noncovered lots. In crypto, it's pervasive — and the reason is transfers.

Crypto moves constantly between wallets and exchanges. When you send Bitcoin from a self-custody wallet into Coinbase and then sell it, the exchange sees the sale proceeds but has no idea what you originally paid — the coins arrived from outside its system. So it reports the sale with basis unknown. The same happens across exchanges, DeFi protocols, and cold storage.

The consequences:

• A 1099-DA can show large proceeds with zero or unknown basis, inflating your apparent gain the same way a zero-basis stock lot does.
• You must reconstruct basis from your own records — the original purchase price and date, wherever the asset first entered your possession.
• Reconciling across multiple wallets and exchanges is the crypto equivalent of the cross-account problem, and it's why crypto tax software and clean transaction exports matter so much.

Key Differences at a Glance

Feature	1099-B (stocks)	1099-DA (digital assets)
Covers	Stocks, bonds, funds, options	Crypto and digital assets
Reports proceeds	Yes	Yes
Cost basis reporting	Mature, mostly reliable	Phased in — often missing early on
"Unknown" basis frequency	Limited to noncovered lots	Widespread, due to transfers
Wash sale rule	Applies	Does not currently apply to crypto
Both feed	Form 8949 → Schedule D	Form 8949 → Schedule D

One Big Advantage: No Wash Sale Rule (For Now)

Here's a difference that works in crypto's favor. The wash sale rule does not currently apply to digital assets, because they're classified as property rather than securities. That means a crypto investor can sell at a loss and rebuy the same coin immediately, harvesting the loss without the 30-day disallowance that hammers stock wash sales.

This is a genuine, if possibly temporary, planning advantage — proposals to extend the wash sale rule to crypto surface regularly, so it may not last. But under current rules, crypto loss harvesting is far more flexible than the stock version.

How to File When You Hold Both

If you have a 1099-B and a 1099-DA in the same year:

1. Keep them separate but report on the same forms. Both flow to Form 8949 and Schedule D, but reconcile each independently — don't mix stock lots with crypto lots.
2. Fix the crypto basis gaps. Expect "unknown" basis on the 1099-DA and supply the real numbers from your transaction history and wallet records.
3. Mind the different wash sale treatment. Apply wash sale adjustments to your stock trades; skip them for crypto (under current rules).
4. Reconcile transfers carefully. Coins that moved between wallets before a sale need their basis traced back to original acquisition, not the transfer-in date.

FAQ

What is the 1099-DA?

A new IRS form, "Digital Asset Proceeds from Broker Transactions," that digital asset brokers use to report your crypto sales and exchanges — the crypto counterpart to the stock world's 1099-B.

How is the 1099-DA different from the 1099-B?

Both report gross proceeds and feed Form 8949, but the 1099-DA covers digital assets, has cost basis reporting phased in (so basis is often missing early), sees widespread "unknown" basis due to wallet transfers, and is not currently subject to the wash sale rule.

Why does my 1099-DA show unknown or zero cost basis?

Usually because the crypto was transferred into the exchange from an outside wallet, so the exchange never saw your original purchase. You reconstruct the basis from your own acquisition records.

Does the wash sale rule apply to crypto?

Not under current rules. Digital assets are treated as property, not securities, so you can harvest a crypto loss and rebuy immediately. This could change if legislation extends the rule to crypto.

Do crypto gains go on the same forms as stock gains?

Yes. Both 1099-B and 1099-DA transactions are reported on Form 8949 and totaled on Schedule D, using the same short-term/long-term capital gains framework.

What should I do if I hold both stocks and crypto?

Report each on Form 8949 but reconcile them separately: fix crypto basis gaps from your records, apply wash sale adjustments only to stocks, and trace transferred coins back to their original acquisition basis.

Bottom Line

The 1099-DA brings crypto into the same reporting world as stocks, but it's not a copy-paste of the 1099-B. Cost basis is phased in, so early forms often arrive with proceeds and no basis; wallet transfers make "unknown" basis the norm rather than the exception; and — for now — the absence of the wash sale rule gives crypto investors a loss-harvesting freedom stock investors don't have.

Treat the two forms as cousins, not twins. Report both on Form 8949 and Schedule D, but reconstruct your crypto basis carefully, trace your transfers, and apply wash sale rules only where they belong. Get ahead of the learning curve now, because digital asset reporting is only going to tighten from here.

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