Treasury Announces Final Digital Asset Reporting Regs

U.S. Department of the Treasury, IRS Release Final Regulations Implementing Bipartisan Tax Reporting Requirements for Sales and Exchanges of Digital Assets

Regulations help taxpayers file accurate returns and pay taxes already owed under current law.

WASHINGTON — As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's implementation of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today released final regulations on the IIJA's reporting requirements for brokers of digital assets, which align these requirements with longstanding reporting requirements for traditional financial services. Owners of digital assets have always owed tax on the sale or exchange of digital assets, and the IIJA did not change that or impose any new taxes on digital assets. It simply created reporting requirements, similar to those that already applied to traditional financial services, to help taxpayers file accurate returns and pay taxes owed under current law.

The final regulations announced today will require brokers to report gross proceeds on the sale of digital assets beginning in 2026 for all sales in 2025. Brokers will be required to also report information on the tax basis for certain digital assets beginning in 2027 for sales in 2026.

“Because of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, investors in digital assets and the IRS will have better access to the documentation they need to easily file and review tax returns,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Aviva Aron-Dine. “By implementing the law's reporting requirements, these final regulations will help taxpayers more easily pay taxes owed under current law, while reducing tax evasion by wealthy investors.”

While owners of digital assets have always owed tax on the sale or exchange of digital assets, compliant taxpayers have often been forced to rely on expensive third-party services to calculate their gains or losses from the sale of digital assets. These final regulations will implement Congress's bipartisan directive to ensure that owners of digital assets receive the information they need from brokers to file their taxes more accurately, more easily, and less expensively, and that the IRS has the information needed to address the tax evasion risks posed by digital assets.

These regulations were developed after Treasury and IRS held a public hearing and carefully reviewed more than 44,000 comments in response to proposed regulations. While today's rules primarily address reporting requirements for custodial brokers, Treasury and IRS anticipate issuing additional rules later this year establishing reporting requirements for non-custodial brokers, consistent with statutory requirements.