US Crypto Tax Reform 2026: What Congress Wants To Change

Worried about what a wash sale rule for crypto would do to your year-end planning? Congress is closer to rewriting US crypto tax rules than most investors realize.

I'm Chris Herbst, Founder of CountDeFi, a global crypto tax reporting firm specializing in complex cryptocurrency taxes and DeFi reconciliations. Since 2017 our team has built filing positions that survive rule changes, not just filing seasons.

I've written this update for US crypto investors with real exposure to the potential outcome of this reform, should it pass: active traders who harvest losses every December, lenders and stakers, anyone with unfiled or incorrect crypto years, and anyone planning a move abroad with unsold coins. I'll walk you through the 4 proposals that matter most, what each would change, and what to do while they are still proposals.

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What Would The 2026 Crypto Tax Bills Change?

On June 9, 2026, the House Ways and Means Committee held a legislative hearing on digital asset taxation covering 6 bills and 2 Democratic proposals, including the End Digital Assets Tax Shelters discussion draft. None of it is law today.

The package pulls in 2 directions at once. Some provisions would give digital assets access to rules securities already enjoy, particularly for lending and professional trading. Others would extend the restrictions securities already carry, particularly around loss harvesting and cross-border planning.

Here is where each proposal would touch your activity:

What Is The PAR Act (H.R. 9176)?

The Providing Analogous Rules for Digital Assets (PAR) Act is the parity play. Rather than inventing new rules, it would extend selected existing ones to qualifying digital assets:

• qualifying digital asset lending could receive treatment similar to securities lending under IRC §1058, meaning the loan itself is not a disposal
• qualifying dealers and traders could elect mark-to-market accounting under IRC §475
• an existing IRC §864(b)(2) trading safe harbor would extend to certain foreign persons trading digital assets in US markets

In our lending client work, the open question has always been whether handing coins to a platform or desk is itself a taxable disposal. §1058-style treatment would settle that for qualifying transactions, and for high-volume traders a §475 election would swap 1,000s of lot-by-lot disposals for a single year-end mark.

The fine print matters: the bill applies to defined categories of digital assets and transactions. It would not make every token a security for tax purposes. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates H.R. 9176 would raise roughly $1.362 billion over 10 years.

Would The Wash Sale Rule Finally Apply To Crypto (H.R. 9172)?

Under current law the wash sale rule covers stock and securities, not crypto. Sell at a loss, rebuy the next morning, and the loss generally stands. H.R. 9172, the Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act, would close that door by extending both the wash sale rule and the constructive sale rules to specified digital assets.

Clients regularly come to us in January having sold in December and rebought within days. Under H.R. 9172, that exact pattern would stop producing deductible losses. Constructive sale treatment would also reach investors who lock in gains through offsetting positions without ever selling.

The JCT scores this one at roughly $2.074 billion over 10 years, the biggest revenue number in the package, which tells you how seriously to take it. For where the line sits today, my guide to the crypto wash sale rule covers the current treatment, and the playbook in my crypto tax loss harvesting guide still applies in full while the bill is pending.

Planning year-end moves while Congress debates the rules?

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What Is The Digital Assets Voluntary Disclosure Program Act (H.R. 9174)?

H.R. 9174 would require Treasury to establish a 1-time voluntary disclosure program specifically for taxpayers who failed to comply with digital asset tax rules. Eligible taxpayers would correct their returns, pay the tax and interest, and receive more favorable penalty treatment plus a defined route back into compliance.

To be clear about what it is not: the proposal does not erase the underlying tax or the interest. It trades penalties for honesty, on a deadline.

At CountDeFi we already take clients through the IRS's existing disclosure practice, and the hard part is never the form. It is reconstructing the years of wallet and exchange history the disclosure has to stand on. I covered the current process in my IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program guide; a dedicated digital asset route would make that path cheaper and clearer for the people who need it most.

Would Moving Abroad Still Leave You US-Taxed?

The End Digital Assets Tax Shelters discussion draft targets 1 specific play: changing tax residence, then selling. Under the draft, gains on digital asset sales could continue to be treated as US-source income if you were a US resident during any of the preceding 10 taxable years, unless you actually paid foreign income tax of at least 10% of the gain.

This is the argument I made in my guide on why moving to Portugal does not end US crypto taxes. The draft would harden that reality into statute: a 0% jurisdiction on the other side would no longer help, because 0% fails the 10% test. It is aimed at digital asset gains in defined cross-border circumstances, not a general rewrite of expatriation tax.

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When Could These Crypto Tax Bills Become Law?

The bills were introduced in early June 2026 and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, which heard them on June 9. The remaining 3 bills round out the package: H.R. 9175 addresses the timing of mining and staking income, H.R. 9173 eases charitable deductions for donated crypto, and H.R. 9178 trims reporting paperwork for smaller holders.

Until any of this moves, you file under the rules currently in force. Here is the full scoreboard:

CountDeFi Is Your Crypto Tax Planning Solution

Rule changes like these reward 1 kind of investor: the kind whose data is already clean. Every proposal above, from a §475 election to a voluntary disclosure, only works on top of a complete, reconciled transaction history. Crypto tax accounting is a data problem, and Congress is about to make the data matter more, not less.

Here at CountDeFi, we use our proprietary Precision 7™ System to turn crypto data chaos into audit-proof tax reports, so the position you file holds up under today's rules and adapts if the law changes. You should also understand:

• how the IRS tracks cryptocurrency activity
• why missing transaction data creates major crypto tax problems
• how Form 8949 and Schedule D reporting works in practice

Book A Free Crypto Tax Consultation

These bills are proposals. Your 2026 return is not. CountDeFi helps US investors build year-end plans and filing positions that work under current law and hold up if Congress moves, whether that is a December harvesting run, a backlog of unfiled years, or a move abroad with unsold coins. Start with a free 15-minute call with one of CountDeFi's US crypto tax specialists.