Industry Expertise
CPA Services for Cryptocurrency Investors and Traders
Cost-basis tracking, Form 8949 preparation, 1099-DA reconciliation, staking and DeFi income reporting, and tax planning for active crypto investors.
Who This Is For
Active crypto traders, long-term Bitcoin and Ethereum holders, DeFi participants (lending, liquidity provision, yield farming), NFT collectors and creators, miners and stakers, and crypto-focused funds.
Top Tax Issues for Crypto Investors
Cost-basis tracking across exchanges and wallets
Transferring crypto between exchanges or to self-custody wallets does not trigger taxable events, but each exchange only reports what it sees. CoinTracker, Koinly, and similar platforms aggregate transactions across all sources to produce accurate Form 8949 detail.
New 1099-DA broker reporting starting 2025
Centralized exchanges must issue Form 1099-DA for digital asset sales beginning 2025. Reconciling 1099-DA reported amounts with tax-prep platform calculations is essential: wash sales, internal transfers, and DeFi events often create discrepancies.
Staking, lending, and DeFi income classification
Staking rewards, lending yield, liquidity pool fees, and airdrops are typically ordinary income at fair market value when received. Subsequent appreciation is then capital gain. Specific protocols (rebases, governance tokens, NFT royalties) may have unique tax treatment.
Wash sale rules and crypto
Wash sale rules under IRC Section 1091 currently do not apply to crypto, allowing tax-loss harvesting that would not be allowed in stock accounts. Pending legislation has proposed extending wash sale rules to digital assets.
Strategies TS CPA Uses
Year-round cost basis reconciliation
Quarterly or monthly imports from all exchanges and wallets into CoinTracker / Koinly catch missing transfers, missing transactions, and mislabeled events while they are easy to fix: not at April 15.
Tax-loss harvesting (no wash-sale restriction yet)
Selling losing positions and immediately repurchasing locks in capital losses without wash sale disallowance. This advantage may close in future legislation, but currently allows aggressive harvesting.
Long-term capital gain optimization
Selling assets held more than one year converts ordinary tax (up to 37%) into long-term capital gain (max 20% + 3.8% NIIT). Identifying lots and using specific identification (HIFO or specific) is critical.
Charitable giving with appreciated crypto
Donating appreciated long-held crypto directly to a public charity provides a fair-market-value deduction (subject to AGI limits) and avoids capital gain on the donation entirely.
Services for Crypto Investors
Cryptocurrency Tax Services
Navigate crypto tax reporting with confidence, from DeFi to NFTs to staking rewards.
Individual Tax Preparation
Tailored and accurate tax preparation, because your financial situation deserves more than a template.
Tax Planning & Strategy
Year-round, proactive tax planning that puts more money back in your pocket, not the IRS's.
Tax Forms Crypto Investors Should Know
Key Tax Terms for Crypto Investors
Form 8949 (Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets)
The transaction-level detail behind a capital gain: each disposition listed with its basis and proceeds, so gain or loss is computed lot by lot.
Capital Gain
The profit realized from the sale of a capital asset such as stock, real estate, or cryptocurrency, taxed at preferential rates if held longer than one year.
Tax Basis
The amount of investment in an asset for tax purposes, used to determine gain or loss when the asset is sold or otherwise disposed of.
Tax-Loss Harvesting
A strategy of selling investments at a loss to offset capital gains and up to $3,000 of ordinary income annually.
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Private Company Equity Compensation: ISOs, RSUs & QSBS
How ISOs, double-trigger RSUs, and QSBS are taxed at a private company, including the AMT trap, withholding shortfalls, and the 2025 OBBBA QSBS changes.
Wash Sale Rule: How to Avoid Losing Your Tax Loss
The wash sale rule (IRC Section 1091) disallows capital losses when you rebuy within 61 days. Know the rules before harvesting tax losses.
Section 83(b) Election: Tax Guide for Founders
File an 83(b) election within 30 days of restricted stock transfer to lock in capital gain treatment on future appreciation. Here's how.
Why California Taxes QSBS (Section 1202)
California does not conform to IRC 1202. Even when QSBS gain is excluded federally, the state taxes it at up to 13.3 percent.
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