Crypto Tax Bill Clears House Committee After Clarity Act Setback

In brief

The House Ways and Means Committee approved the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act.
The proposal covers transaction fees, stablecoins, mining, staking and lending.
The bill must still pass both chambers of Congress before reaching the president.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act Wednesday, sending a proposal to overhaul crypto taxation to the full House.

The committee announced the markup on Monday, scheduling the session for lawmakers to review H.R. 10357, consider amendments and vote on whether to send it to the full House.

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“This wasn’t built overnight,” committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a statement, crediting more than a year of bipartisan work.

“The legislation before us today is the product of that work, bringing clarity, parity, and workability to digital asset taxation and helping keep the United States the crypto capital of the world, instead of pushing that innovation, and the jobs that come with it, offshore,” Smith said.

For crypto users, the proposal would remove gain-or-loss calculations on qualifying network or transaction fees of $10 or less. Paying those fees with tokens can trigger tax accounting because digital assets are treated as property. The relief would begin in 2028 and apply to eligible fee payments, not small crypto purchases generally.

The bill would simplify tax calculations for qualifying dollar stablecoins traded near their redemption value, classify mining and staking rewards as ordinary income, and allow certain investment trusts to stake assets without losing their tax status solely for doing so. It excludes an earlier proposal to let taxpayers defer recognition of some mining and staking rewards.

It would also extend wash-sale rules to traded digital assets, generally delaying loss deductions when investors acquire substantially identical assets within 30 days before or after selling. Qualifying crypto loans would not be treated as sales, and eligible taxpayers could correct past returns through a new disclosure program, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The tax bill advanced a day after the Senate failed to move forward with the separate Clarity Act, which addresses crypto market oversight. The SEC and CFTC have since pledged to pursue crypto rules under their existing powers.

The tax proposal still requires approval from both chambers in identical form and the president’s signature before becoming law.

“I look forward to building on that work as we move these policies forward,” Smith said.