18 Crypto-Assets Across Borders: U.S. Rules and Your Home Country
Question for this chapter. When I sell a coin, swap it for another coin, or pay with it in the U.S., how is the tax worked out, and does an account at an exchange abroad have to be reported as a foreign account?
Answer. The U.S. treats crypto-assets as property, so a sale, a coin-for-coin swap, or a payment made in coin each fixes a gain or loss, while some coins count as income the moment you receive them. A broker's Form 1099-DA reports what you sold but may leave out what you paid, so your own records may need to supply the cost. Whether a foreign exchange account falls under the FBAR or Form 8938 cannot be settled from this chapter's sources, and other countries' crypto rules are not covered here.
What to check
- List every disposition, including coin-to-coin swaps and payments made in coin, not just trades that ended in cash.
- Answer the digital asset question on page 1 of your return to match your activity.
- Note how and when each coin was received, since pay, airdrops, and staking rewards are reported in different places.
- Compare the basis box on any Form 1099-DA with your own purchase and wallet records, and fill any blank from those records.
- Keep a separate list of accounts held at exchanges outside the U.S. for the foreign account reporting question.
What to confirm. Confirm which of your coins sat with a broker and which sat in a personal wallet, because that decides whether cost information appears on your 1099-DA.
One-line summary. In the U.S., selling, swapping, or spending a coin is a taxable event that you track with your own records, and foreign exchange accounts raise a separate reporting question.
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