How this crypto tax calculator works
Enter your investment amount, buy price, sell price, holding period, income, filing status, fees, and state.
The calculator estimates the gain on that sale and applies the relevant federal and state tax rates.
Qualifying purchase fees can increase your cost basis. Qualifying disposal fees can reduce your amount realized. Both can reduce the taxable gain. If you enter a single fee in the calculator, treat it as the combined estimate of those costs for this one sale.
Your income and filing status help determine which federal rate may apply. Gains on crypto held for one year or less are generally short-term and taxed at ordinary income tax rates. Gains on crypto held for more than one year generally qualify for the 0%, 15%, or 20% long-term capital gains rates.
The state estimate applies to the same sale. This calculator does not account for local taxes, the Net Investment Income Tax, deductions, tax credits, or capital losses from other transactions.
Use this calculator for a quick estimate of a single crypto sale or to plan a transaction. For a complete tax calculation across your wallets and exchanges, TokenTax can import your transaction history and calculate gains and losses across supported accounts.
Your 1099-DA is not a tax return
Form 1099-DA reports information about certain digital asset sales handled by brokers, but it does not calculate your complete crypto tax liability.
For 2025 sales, brokers generally report gross proceeds but are not required to report cost basis. For sales effected after 2025, brokers generally must report basis for digital assets that are covered securities.
Basis can still be missing for noncovered assets, including certain crypto acquired before 2026 or transferred into a broker from another wallet or account.
That matters because proceeds are not the same as profit. If you sell ETH for $10,000 and your adjusted cost basis is $7,000, your gain generally starts at $3,000 rather than the full $10,000 sale amount.
TokenTax can combine proceeds, cost basis, fees, and transaction history when preparing your crypto tax reports.
How is cryptocurrency taxed?
The IRS generally treats cryptocurrency and other digital assets as property. Selling, swapping, or spending crypto held as an investment can create a capital gain or loss. Crypto received as compensation, staking rewards (generally when you have dominion and control), or certain other forms of income can instead be taxed as ordinary income.
The table below gives an overview of what crypto and related products are taxable.
Transaction | Generally taxable? | Typical treatment |
Sell crypto for USD | Yes | Capital gain or loss |
Swap one crypto for another | Yes | Capital gain or loss |
Spend crypto on goods or services | Yes | Capital gain or loss |
Receive staking rewards | Yes | Generally ordinary income when you have dominion and control |
Receive crypto as payment | Yes | Generally ordinary income |
Buy crypto with USD and hold it | No | No disposal yet |
Transfer crypto between your own wallets | No | Basis and holding period generally carry over |
Crypto held for one year or less generally produces a short-term capital gain or loss when sold. Net short-term gains are generally taxed at ordinary federal income tax rates.
Crypto held for more than one year generally produces a long-term capital gain or loss. Most long-term capital gains fall into the 0%, 15%, or 20% federal brackets, depending on taxable income. See crypto tax rates for more.
Calculating crypto capital gains and losses
The basic calculation is:
Gain or loss = Amount realized - Adjusted cost basis
Your adjusted cost basis generally starts with what you paid to acquire the crypto, including qualifying acquisition costs. Your amount realized generally starts with what you received when you disposed of the asset, reduced by qualifying disposal costs.
For example, say you buy 1 ETH for $2,000 and pay a $20 qualifying acquisition fee. Your basis is $2,020. You later sell the ETH for $3,000 and pay a $10 qualifying disposal fee, leaving $2,990 of amount realized.
$2,990 - $2,020 = $970 capital gain
The holding period determines whether that $970 gain is short-term or long-term.
This calculator estimates a single sale based on the information you enter. It does not import transactions or determine which crypto lot you sold. TokenTax can reconcile lots across supported wallets and exchanges for tax reporting.
See lot methods: crypto accounting methods.
What happens if you have a crypto loss?
If your amount realized is less than your adjusted cost basis, you generally have a capital loss.
Capital losses can offset capital gains. If your total capital losses exceed your capital gains, individuals can generally deduct up to $3,000 of excess net capital losses against other income each year, or $1,500 if married filing separately.
Unused capital losses can generally carry forward to future tax years.
How to lower crypto taxes
You can't make a taxable crypto sale disappear, but several strategies can legally reduce your tax bill:
Use tax-loss harvesting: Selling investments at a loss can offset capital gains and potentially reduce taxable income.
Understand the wash-sale rules: Most cryptocurrency that is not treated as stock or securities generally remains outside IRC section 1091 under current law. Digital assets that are also stock or securities can be subject to wash-sale restrictions.
Consider your holding period: Holding crypto for more than one year can make a gain eligible for long-term capital gains rates.
Donate appreciated crypto: Donating eligible long-term appreciated crypto (generally held more than one year) directly to a qualified charity may offer tax advantages compared with selling it first and donating the cash.
Keep accurate basis and transfer records: Missing basis can make gains appear larger than they actually are.
Consider the timing of gains: Because long-term capital gains brackets depend on taxable income, realizing gains in a lower-income year can sometimes result in a lower federal rate.