Coinbase Taxes and Form 1099-DA: What Coinbase Reports to the IRS
Coinbase reports your crypto sales on Form 1099-DA and rewards over $600 on Form 1099-MISC. What each form shows, why cost basis may be missing, and how to report it.
Does Coinbase report to the IRS?
Yes. Coinbase reports US customers’ crypto sales to the IRS on Form 1099-DA, and reward income of $600 or more on Form 1099-MISC. The IRS receives a copy of each form you get, so the activity on them must match your tax return.
Before 2025, Coinbase sent most customers only a 1099-MISC for rewards, and the IRS had no standard record of crypto sales. Form 1099-DA changed that: from tax year 2025, every reportable sale or exchange on Coinbase is reported.
Which tax forms does Coinbase send?
Coinbase sends two IRS forms to US customers: Form 1099-DA for sales and exchanges, and Form 1099-MISC for rewards income.
| Form | What it reports | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| 1099-DA | Proceeds from selling or exchanging crypto (from tax year 2025), plus cost basis and gain or loss for covered assets (from tax year 2026) | US customers with reportable sales or exchanges |
| 1099-MISC | Rewards and other income, such as staking rewards, USDC rewards and Learning rewards | US customers who earn $600 or more in the year |
Rewards below $600 are still taxable income. Coinbase just doesn’t file a form for them. Coinbase’s self-custody wallet app is not a brokerage account, so activity there doesn’t appear on Coinbase’s tax forms.
Why doesn’t my Coinbase 1099-DA show cost basis?
Coinbase’s 1099-DA shows no cost basis for tax year 2025 because brokers were only required to report proceeds that year. From tax year 2026, Coinbase must report cost basis for “covered” assets only: crypto acquired on Coinbase on or after January 1, 2026 and held there until it was sold.
For everything else, including coins bought before 2026 and coins transferred in from another exchange or wallet, Coinbase states that you are responsible for tracking and reporting the cost basis yourself. Check any sale here:
If you moved crypto onto Coinbase from elsewhere, your purchase records from the original platform establish your basis. Keep them. Since 2025, the IRS also requires cost basis to be tracked per wallet or account, so basis can’t be shifted between your Coinbase account and other wallets after the fact.
How do I download my Coinbase tax documents?
Coinbase tax documents are in Coinbase Taxes: sign in at accounts.coinbase.com, open Taxes, then Documents. The steps:
- Sign in to your Coinbase account on the web.
- Go to Taxes, then Documents.
- Download Form 1099-DA and, if you received one, Form 1099-MISC for the tax year.
- Also download your gain/loss report and a full transaction history (CSV). You need these for sales that show no basis.
- In the same Taxes settings, choose paperless delivery or physical mail for future forms.
Coinbase emails customers when forms are ready. For tax year 2025, it said forms would be available no later than March 17, 2026.
How do I report my Coinbase 1099-DA on my tax return?
Report each sale from your Coinbase 1099-DA on Form 8949, adding cost basis where the form leaves it blank, then carry the totals to Schedule D.
- Match every sale on the 1099-DA to your own records or Coinbase’s gain/loss report.
- Where box 1g (cost basis) is blank, enter your actual basis, normally the purchase price plus fees, from your records.
- Separate short-term sales (held one year or less) from long-term sales.
- Report rewards from Form 1099-MISC, or your records, as ordinary income.
- Answer “yes” to the digital asset question on Form 1040 if you sold, exchanged or received crypto.
Crypto tax software can import Coinbase’s transaction history to calculate basis across your accounts. Check its results against the 1099-DA before filing. For a deeper explanation of every box and the covered/noncovered rules, read Form 1099-DA explained.
Are USDC sales on Coinbase reported?
Not always. Under IRS rules, brokers may skip reporting sales of qualifying stablecoins such as USDC when your total proceeds from them are $10,000 or less for the year. Larger totals are reported as one aggregate form per stablecoin. USDC rewards are separate: they count as income and appear on Form 1099-MISC when they reach $600 or more.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Coinbase — Form 1099-DA help article
- Coinbase — Download tax reports
- IRS — Instructions for Form 1099-DA
- IRS — Revenue Procedure 2024-28
- IRS — Digital assets
More on Coinbase, including its news coverage and safety record, is on the Coinbase exchange page.
General information about IRS reporting, not tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional about your situation.
Nadia Rahman
Nadia Rahman is CoinScoop's Markets Editor. She covers Bitcoin, macro liquidity and the spot-ETF complex, and previously reported on rates and FX for a global newswire.