The short answer

What it reportsSales of digital assets you effect as a broker.
Amounts to reportNo minimum; every amount is reported
To the recipientFebruary 15
To the IRS, on paperFebruary 28
To the IRS, electronicallyMarch 31

If one arrives

Proceeds are not gain. Basis is reported only for covered assets the broker custodied; anything moved in from your own wallet arrives with no basis, and supplying it is yours to do.

The form is how a payer tells the IRS what it paid. Its absence is not permission — income you received is reportable whether or not a form covers it, and a threshold decides only who must file, never what you owe.

If you have to send one

Brokers file this. You do not, unless you are one.

Electronic filing is required once you file 10 information returns, counting every type together — eight 1099-NECs and four 1099-MISCs is twelve, not eight.

Who sends it

A broker does. The instructions define one as "any person who, in the ordinary course of a trade or business, stands ready to effect sales of digital assets to be made by others," and generally only a U.S. digital asset broker has to file. In practice that is a custodial exchange or platform that holds your coins and sells them for you, and the operator of a digital asset kiosk. Paid in crypto covers the income side.

What it reports, and what it may leave out

For every sale a broker effects for you after 2025, it must report the gross proceeds. Whether it must also report your basis depends on whether the asset is a covered security, which for this form means "a digital asset acquired after 2025" for cash or other property "in an account for which the broker provided custodial services," and held there until the broker sells it.

Asset Proceeds Basis
Bought on the platform after 2025 and sold there Reported Reported, with box 2 checked
Bought before 2026, or transferred in from elsewhere Reported May be left out, with box 9 checked

The second row is where most of the work lies. Coins bought years ago, or moved in from your own wallet, arrive at the sale with no basis the broker knows about. The form will show what you sold for and nothing about what you paid. Form 1099-DA shows what you sold for explains what that does to a return, and basis wallet by wallet explains how the records have to be kept.

Proceeds are net of the sale's costs

Box 1f is not a raw sale price. The broker must "reduce the proceeds by digital asset transaction costs, including transaction fees, commissions, and transfer taxes related to the sale." That is the opposite of a Form 1099-K, whose box 1a is gross before every fee. Do not deduct the same fee a second time.

The boxes a reader meets

Box What it holds
1a–1c The asset's code, its name and the number of units
1d, 1e Date acquired and date sold
1f Proceeds
1g Cost or other basis, when reported
2 Checked when basis was reported to the IRS
4 Federal income tax withheld under backup withholding
5 Checked when a loss is not allowed
6 Whether the gain or loss is short-term or long-term
8 Checked when the broker relied on acquisition information you gave it
9 Checked when the asset is a noncovered security
12a, 12b Units transferred in, and the date they arrived

Not every box is covered here.

Where it goes on your return

Each sale goes on Form 8949, which from 2025 has its own boxes, G to L, for digital assets. The totals carry to Schedule D, which sorts the gain or loss into short term and long term. A sale that does not need adjusting and whose basis was reported can go straight onto Schedule D as a total. Moving coins between your own wallets is not a transaction at all, unless you pay the transfer fee in crypto: see the transfer fee.

Common questions

Box 1g, the basis, is blank on my 1099-DA. Is that an error?
Usually not. A broker must report basis only for a covered security, and may leave it out for a noncovered one if it checks box 9. The basis still exists; supplying it is yours to do, from your own records.
I moved coins from my own wallet to an exchange and sold them there. Will the exchange report my basis?
Not as a covered security. A digital asset is covered "only if it was acquired in an account for which the broker provided custodial services and was held in that account until the broker effects the disposition." Coins that arrived from outside were not acquired there.
Is box 1f my gain?
No. Box 1f is proceeds, what you sold for, less the transaction costs of the sale. Gain is proceeds less your basis, and it is worked out on Form 8949.
I was paid in crypto for my work. Does the 1099-DA report that?
No. The form reports sales through a broker. The IRS: "If you receive property, including digital assets, in exchange for performing services, whether or not you perform the services as an employee, you recognize ordinary income," at the fair market value when received. A later sale of those coins may then appear on a 1099-DA.
Does the amount in box 1f include the exchange's fee?
It has already been taken off. The instructions tell the broker: "You must reduce the proceeds by digital asset transaction costs, including transaction fees, commissions, and transfer taxes related to the sale."

This page is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. It covers United States federal reporting. Consult a qualified tax professional about your situation.

Official sources