Crypto.com Tax Guide 2026
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Crypto.com is one of the most widely used crypto platforms in the United States. US investors use it for spot trading, staking, rewards, referrals, and access to a broader crypto ecosystem. But when tax season arrives, most users discover that Crypto.com taxes are more complicated than expected.
From my experience working with US clients at CountDefi, the majority of Crypto.com tax problems don't stem from aggressive trading or bad inten. Rather they arise from misunderstanding what Crypto.com does (and doesn't) provide for tax purposes.
This practitioner's guide based on real client experience covers:
- Whether Crypto.com sends tax forms
- What Crypto.com reports to the IRS
- How to obtain Crypto.com tax documents
- How Crypto.com's most popular products are taxed in the US
- Critical 2025–2026 regulatory changes every user must understand
Does Crypto.com Send Tax Forms?
This is the most common question my team hears. And the answer is not great.
In most cases, Crypto.com does not send comprehensive tax forms that cover your entire crypto activity.
Some users may receive limited forms, but these are not a complete Crypto.com tax report and should never be treated as your final tax position.
If you're searching for answers to questions like "does Crypto.com send tax forms" or "how to get tax form from Crypto.com," the key takeaway is this: Crypto.com provides data, not finished tax answers.
What Does Crypto.com Report to the IRS?
Crypto.com reports certain information to the IRS, and in many cases, the IRS may already know more about your Crypto.com activity than you realize.
Current Reporting: Form 1099-MISC
Crypto.com may issue Form 1099-MISC if you are a US person who earned $600 or more in rewards during the calendar year from:
- Lock-ups
- Earn products (where available)
- Referral bonuses
- Certain other promotional activities
This form reports:
- Income amounts from rewards, staking, referrals, and promotional activities
- Personal information including your name, address, and taxpayer identification number (TIN)
What Form 1099-MISC does NOT report:
- Capital gains or losses
- Cost basis
- Transfers between wallets
- Whether your tax return is accurate
This partial reporting is precisely what creates confusion and risk or taxpayers.
Form 1099-B for Derivatives
Crypto.com may also issue Form 1099-B if you traded regulated futures or options contracts. This form reports profit or loss on closed contracts, unrealized profit or loss on open contracts, and aggregate profit or loss.
Major Change: Form 1099-DA (Starting 2025)
Form 1099-DA is a new IRS information return created specifically for digital assets and it represents a fundamental shift in crypto tax reporting.
What Crypto.com users need to know:
- For 2025 transactions, you'll receive a 1099-DA showing gross proceeds only (no cost basis)
- Starting with 2026 transactions, brokers must report cost basis—but only for assets acquired and held entirely within their platform
- Any assets you transferred in, acquired via staking/DeFi, or purchased before the broker began tracking will show blank or incomplete cost basis
The audit risk: The IRS receives the same 1099-DA you do. When your return doesn't match broker-reported proceeds, automated systems flag the discrepancy, even if you've correctly accounted for cost basis yourself.
For complete details on Form 1099-DA requirements and timeline, see our US Crypto Tax Guide.
Critical 2025 Change: Wallet-by-Wallet Cost Basis Tracking
Under Revenue Procedure 2024-28, the IRS eliminated "universal" cost basis tracking effective January 1, 2025. You must now track cost basis separately for each wallet and exchange account.
How this affects Crypto.com users:
As we see all the time when optimizing our client's US crypto taxes, this change can significantly impact your tax liability depending on which wallet holds your highest or lowest cost basis assets.
Important: The IRS safe harbor for reallocating cost basis across wallets required documentation by December 31, 2024. If you missed this deadline, you must still use wallet-by-wallet tracking, but without safe harbor protection.
How Crypto.com Products Are Taxed
Spot Trading
Spot trading is the most common Crypto.com activity.
Tax treatment:
- Every sale of crypto for USD is a taxable event
- Every crypto-to-crypto swap is a taxable event
- Gains and losses are capital gains/losses
- Holding period matters: assets held over one year qualify for long-term capital gains rates
Critical issue: Crypto.com does not reliably calculate cost basis, especially for assets deposited from another exchange or wallet. You are responsible for maintaining accurate cost basis records.
Staking Rewards
Staking is one of Crypto.com's most popular features.
Tax treatment (per Revenue Ruling 2023-14):
- Staking rewards are ordinary income when you gain dominion and control
- The fair market value in USD at the time you receive the rewards determines your taxable income
- This applies whether you stake directly or through Crypto.com as an intermediary
When you sell staking rewards later:
- A second taxable event occurs
- You calculate capital gain/loss from your cost basis (the value when you received the rewards) to your sale price
Common mistake: Many users fail to report staking rewards as income when received, only reporting when they sell. This is incorrect and creates audit risk.
Crypto.com Earn
Earn products have had limited and changing availability for US users.
Tax treatment (where available):
- Rewards are typically ordinary income when received
- The timing of when you gain dominion and control matters
- You must track each reward separately for cost basis purposes
Common mistake: Reporting Earn rewards as capital gains instead of ordinary income.
Referral and Affiliate Programs
Crypto.com's referral and affiliate programs can generate significant income, sometimes with daily USDC payouts.
Tax treatment:
- Referral and affiliate rewards are ordinary income
- USDC payouts are taxable when received
- Each payout is a separate income event that must be tracked
- Daily payouts don't reduce your tax obligation—they just create many small taxable events
When you later dispose of USDC:
- Converting USDC to another crypto is a taxable event
- Selling USDC for USD is a taxable event (usually minimal gain/loss)
- Spending USDC is a taxable event
Airdrops and Promotional Rewards
Tax treatment:
- Airdrops and promotional bonuses are ordinary income when you receive them
- The fair market value at receipt determines your taxable income
- These are taxable even if you didn't ask for them or "do" anything to earn them
Note: Airdrops and promotional rewards are generally NOT reported on Form 1099-DA. You must track and report them independently.
Margin Trading
Margin trading availability for US users is limited and varies by state.
Tax considerations:
- Taxable events occur when you close positions
- Interest paid on borrowed funds may be deductible (consult a tax professional)
- Short sales and margin calls create complex tax situations
Crypto.com does not provide clean tax statements for margin activity. Professional reconciliation is typically required.
Derivatives
Most Crypto.com derivatives products are not available to US users, but some US taxpayers may have historical or indirect exposure.
Tax treatment:
- Depends on the specific instrument
- May involve special IRS rules (e.g., Section 1256 contracts with 60/40 treatment)
- Often requires professional review
How to Get Crypto.com Tax Documents
Crypto.com does not provide a single IRS-ready tax statement. Instead, you can access raw transaction data.
Obtaining Your Data
- Log in to your Crypto.com account
- Navigate to transaction history
- Export transaction history files (CSV format)
- Download separate exports for different products (App, Exchange, etc.)
Understanding What You Receive
These exports are often referred to as "Crypto.com tax documents" or "Crypto.com tax statement," but they are not final tax reports. They're raw data files that must be:
- Reconciled across all Crypto.com products
- Classified by transaction type
- Combined with data from other exchanges and wallets
- Analyzed to calculate gains, losses, and income
API Limitations
Many users rely on API connections to import Crypto.com data into tax software. While helpful, APIs have significant limitations that create real problems at tax time.
Critical Crypto.com API Limitations:
The Crypto.com API only provides transactions from the last 2 years. Trade history for sub-accounts is only provided for the last 6 months.
What this means in practice:
- If your account is older than 2 years, you must export older transactions using CSV files
- To import transaction history from the Crypto.com mobile app, you need to use a separate "Crypto.com App" integration or manual CSV export
- Earn products, card rewards, referral bonuses, and staking rewards often require separate data exports
Result: Relying on API data alone commonly leads to missing trades, incorrect cost basis, underreported income, and incomplete tax reports.
Our observation: Almost every Crypto.com tax issue we see starts with incomplete data imports. The 2-year API limitation combined with the separate mobile app data creates gaps that users don't realize exist until they receive an IRS notice.
Where DIY Approaches Often Break Down
Here's a pattern we see every tax season: someone connects their Crypto.com API to tax software, runs a report, and the numbers look reasonable. Then they try to reconcile with their actual holdings and nothing matches.
The software didn't pull their 2021 trades. It missed their staking rewards from the mobile app. It couldn't account for the ETH they transferred in from Coinbase three years ago.
This is the moment people realize that accurate crypto taxes require more than just plugging in an API. The data has to be complete, correctly classified, and reconciled across every platform you've ever used.
If You Receive a 1099-MISC from Crypto.com
- Verify your personal details are correct
- Compare reported income to your own transaction records
- Calculate your full tax position including capital gains/losses
- Report all income correctly—even amounts below the 1099 threshold
- Keep detailed records supporting your tax position
Important: Differences between your return and IRS-received 1099s increase audit risk. If you believe a 1099 is incorrect, you should still report accurately and be prepared to explain discrepancies.
How to Report Crypto.com Taxes to the IRS
Forms Required
Capital gains and losses:
- Form 8949 (Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets)
- Schedule D (Capital Gains and Losses)
Starting with 2025, Form 8949 includes new checkboxes specifically for digital asset transactions reported (or not reported) on Form 1099-DA.
Ordinary income (staking rewards, referrals, etc.):
- Schedule 1 (Additional Income) for most individuals
- Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business) if you're operating as a business
The Digital Asset Question
Every US tax return now includes a question about digital asset activity. You must answer truthfully. Answering "No" when you had taxable crypto activity is a red flag for IRS enforcement.
Common Mistakes We See
- Not reporting staking rewards as income when received
- Treating crypto-to-crypto swaps as non-taxable
- Using the wrong cost basis (especially for transferred-in assets)
- Relying solely on 1099 forms instead of complete records
- Missing transactions due to API limitations
- Failing to track daily reward payouts (e.g., affiliate USDC)
- Not transitioning to wallet-by-wallet cost basis tracking for 2025
- Assuming stablecoins are tax-free (they're not—every disposal is a taxable event)
The Typical Progression
There's a pattern to how crypto tax problems compound over time:
Year 1: "I'll figure out my crypto taxes myself." You try standard tax software, realize it doesn't handle crypto well, maybe file an incomplete return or skip reporting certain activity.
Year 2: "I'll use crypto tax software." You connect APIs, import CSVs, and get a report. The numbers seem plausible, so you file. But you didn't catch the missing transactions, the incorrect cost basis on transferred assets, or the staking rewards that weren't classified correctly.
Year 3 (or later): You receive a CP2000 notice from the IRS. Or you try to sell a large position and realize your cost basis is a mess. Or you look at your portfolio—now worth serious money—and think, "I need to get this right before it becomes an even bigger problem."
The longer this goes unaddressed, the harder (and more expensive) it becomes to fix.
What Happens If You Don't Report Correctly?
The IRS has significantly increased crypto enforcement. Consequences may include:
- CP2000 notices for unreported income identified through 1099 matching
- Accuracy-related penalties (typically 20% of underpayment)
- Failure-to-file penalties (5% per month, up to 25%)
- Interest on unpaid taxes
- Criminal prosecution in cases of willful evasion
The new 1099-DA reporting regime means the IRS will have unprecedented visibility into crypto transactions starting with the 2025 tax year.
Recommendations From Expert Crypto Accountants
- Don't rely on API imports alone. Download all CSV exports and reconcile manually or with professional help.
- Track every wallet separately starting January 1, 2025, in compliance with Rev. Proc. 2024-28.
- Document your cost basis method and maintain records supporting specific identification if you use anything other than FIFO.
- Keep records for at least 6 years (the IRS can audit up to 6 years back in cases of substantial understatement).
- Report all income when received, not just when you sell. This applies to staking rewards, referral bonuses, and airdrops.
- Reconcile your 1099-DA against your own records when you receive it in early 2026. Prepare documentation explaining any discrepancies.
- Know your limits. If you have activity across multiple exchanges, wallets, or DeFi protocols—or if your portfolio has grown to the point where the stakes are real—recognize when you need expert help.
When Software Works (and When It Doesn't)
Be honest with yourself about the complexity of your situation. Software can work well if:
- You traded on one exchange with no transfers in or out
- You have a handful of transactions per year
- You've never used DeFi, staking, or earned rewards
- Your total portfolio is modest
You likely need professional help if:
- You've used Crypto.com plus other exchanges, wallets, or DeFi protocols
- You have years of transaction history, some of which may be incomplete
- You've tried software and hit roadblocks or gotten results that don't make sense
- Your portfolio has grown to the point where errors have real financial consequences
- You've received (or are worried about receiving) IRS correspondence
- You want your tax position to be audit-ready, not just "probably fine"
At CountDefi, this is all we do. We provide end-to-end crypto tax services—reconstructing complete transaction histories, reconciling every wallet and exchange, and preparing tax filings with the accuracy and documentation to withstand IRS scrutiny.
Looking Ahead: 2026 and Beyond
The regulatory landscape continues to evolve:
- Full cost basis reporting on 1099-DA begins with 2026 transactions
- Backup withholding (24% federal) may apply if you haven't verified your tax status (W-9) with Crypto.com
- Potential changes to staking reward treatment are under congressional review—though current IRS guidance (Revenue Ruling 2023-14) remains in effect
We recommend staying current with IRS guidance and, when in doubt, consulting a qualified crypto tax professional.
Need Help With Your Crypto.com Taxes?
CountDefi provides end-to-end crypto tax services for crypto.com investors in the US and beyond. If you've hit the limits of what you can do on your own, we should talk.
