What is the new Form 1099-DA and how does it affect my crypto taxes in 2025?

Form 1099-DA is a brand-new IRS tax form that crypto brokers must use to report your digital asset transactions starting with trades made on or after January 1, 2025. This is a major shift in crypto tax reporting — for the first time, exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken are required to report your sale proceeds directly to the IRS, similar to how stock brokers report equity trades on Form 1099-B.

What gets reported on Form 1099-DA:

• Gross proceeds from every sale or exchange of cryptocurrency
• Your cost basis (for certain covered transactions where the broker knows it)
• Whether the gain is short-term or long-term
• The date and time of each transaction

What this means for you:

• You'll receive a Form 1099-DA from any centralized exchange you used in 2025 (received by January 31, 2026 for the 2025 tax year)
• The IRS will also receive a copy — so omitting crypto income is now much riskier
• You still need to report gains/losses on Schedule D and Form 8949, but the 1099-DA data should match your broker records
• If you traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or used self-custody wallets, those transactions are not covered by Form 1099-DA yet — the IRS delayed that requirement

Important caveat on cost basis: For 2025, brokers are required to report gross proceeds but may not have accurate cost basis for all transactions (especially if you transferred coins from another wallet). Always cross-check the broker's figures against your own records using crypto tax software like Koinly, CoinTracker, or TaxBit.

The IRS has issued transition relief notices acknowledging the complexities — but good-faith errors on 1099-DA data won't protect you from your underlying obligation to report all taxable crypto transactions accurately.