The House Ways and Means Committee released a 114-page digital-asset tax package on September 15 that would carve out certain crypto network fees of $10 or less from federal gain-or-loss recognition and extend wash-sale rules to digital assets. The measure, H.R. 10357, titled the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, was introduced by Chairman Jason Smith and was scheduled for a committee vote at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on September 16, according to The Crypto Times.
The bill matters because the IRS generally treats digital assets as property, so even a small token payment used to complete a transaction can trigger taxable gain or loss. For households with large crypto positions, frequent transfers, or tax-loss harvesting activity, the package would narrow one recordkeeping burden while tightening another.
What Changed
The headline provision is narrow: taxpayers would not recognize gain or loss when they dispose of a digital asset to pay a qualifying network or validation fee of $10 or less. The text is aimed at gas fees and similar payments used to process blockchain transactions. It is not a general de minimis rule for everyday purchases, and it does not create a broad exemption for exchange trading fees or wallet spreads, The Crypto Times reported.
The relief also comes with limits. Taxpayers who completed more than 5,000 digital-asset transfers in the prior year would be excluded, as would traders, brokers, dealers, and people in the business of validating or batching transactions. In other words, the proposed break is designed more for ordinary wallet activity than for high-frequency or institutional-style operations.
The second major change is on tax-loss harvesting. H.R. 10357 would apply wash-sale rules to digital assets for the first time. Under current law, the statutory wash-sale rule applies to securities, not crypto. The bill would close that gap by disallowing a loss when a taxpayer sells a covered digital asset at a loss and buys back a substantially identical position within the restricted period. The bill also would apply constructive-sale rules to digital assets, according to both published reports.
The text draws on earlier bills from Representatives Jodey Arrington, Aaron Bean, Mike Carey, Steven Horsford, Mike Kelly, David Kustoff, Max Miller and Rudy Yakym.
Who Is Affected
The proposed fee exclusion is likely most relevant for taxpayers who use self-custody wallets, move assets on-chain, or pay routine network fees that today can create tiny taxable events requiring basis tracking. For that group, the benefit is mostly administrative rather than economic: fewer small disposals to document.
The wash-sale change could matter more financially. Investors who have used crypto losses to offset gains while quickly rebuilding the same position would lose that flexibility if the bill becomes law. For affluent households with concentrated digital-asset holdings, that could change year-end loss-harvesting calendars and increase the value of advance tax planning.
The bill also reaches beyond those two items. The package would create special tax treatment for qualifying U.S. dollar stablecoins, allow qualifying digital-asset loans without treating the loan itself as a taxable sale, offer simplified accounting for widely traded digital assets, address tokenized assets and ownership measurement on disposal, establish a voluntary disclosure program for prior digital-asset filing issues, and direct Treasury and the IRS to write implementing rules.
One closely watched item is not included in the form many in the industry wanted. The consolidated bill does not adopt a broad deferral that would postpone tax on mining and staking rewards until sale. Instead, some mining and staking language remains, and validator income is clarified as ordinary income under the bill, The Crypto Times reported. Current IRS guidance generally treats mining and staking rewards as ordinary income when the taxpayer gains control of the tokens.
The After-Tax Math
The $10 fee provision may sound modest, but it addresses a recurring friction point in crypto tax reporting.
| Example | Current general treatment | If bill becomes law |
|---|---|---|
| Pay a $6 qualifying network fee with appreciated crypto | Could require recognizing gain or loss on the crypto used to pay the fee | No gain or loss recognition for that qualifying fee payment |
| Sell crypto at a loss and repurchase a substantially identical position soon after | Loss may currently be claimed because wash-sale statute does not generally cover crypto | Loss would be disallowed under the proposed wash-sale extension |
Example: an investor uses appreciated tokens to pay several small qualifying network fees during the year, each under $10. Under current federal tax treatment, each disposal may create a separate gain-or-loss calculation. Under the proposal, those qualifying fees would not trigger recognition, reducing tracking work.
Now consider tax-loss harvesting. Example: a taxpayer sells a digital asset for a $50,000 loss and repurchases a substantially identical position shortly afterward. Under current law, crypto has not been covered by the statutory wash-sale rule. Under H.R. 10357, that loss would be disallowed if the repurchase falls within the prohibited window.
Revenue estimates underscore which side of the bill raises money. According to crypto.news, citing a Joint Committee on Taxation estimate for the complete bill, the package would raise a net $500 million in federal revenue from fiscal 2027 through 2036. The wash-sale provision is projected to raise about $1.71 billion over that period, while the small-fee exemption is projected to reduce revenue by roughly $2.37 billion. The Crypto Times separately reported that an earlier stand-alone wash-sale bill, H.R. 9172, had been estimated to raise about $2.07 billion over ten years; that figure was attached to the June bill, not a fresh score for the consolidated package.
Moves to Discuss With Your Advisor
For taxpayers with substantial crypto exposure, this bill may be worth discussing in three areas.
- Recordkeeping: households with many on-chain transactions may want to identify how much of their current reporting burden comes from small network-fee disposals.
- Loss-harvesting strategy: investors who have relied on quick sale-and-repurchase trades may need to model how a wash-sale rule would affect year-end tax management if the bill advances.
- Mining, staking, and trusts: taxpayers earning validator rewards or holding digital assets in trust structures may want to review how ordinary-income treatment and trust-staking provisions could apply if enacted.
Because the legislation is not law, any planning decisions would depend on the final text, effective dates, and future Treasury and IRS guidance.
What to Watch
The near-term event was the September 16 committee markup. Crypto.news later reported that the Ways and Means Committee advanced H.R. 10357 by a 38-5 vote, making it eligible for House floor consideration. That step does not enact the bill. The House and Senate would still need to pass identical text before it could reach the president.
The timing is tight. The Crypto Times reported that Congress was expected to leave Washington after September 17 for a district work period, with regular legislative business not resuming until after the November midterm election. That limits the odds of a full-year finish, but committee action would still establish a consolidated text that lawmakers could revisit in 2027.
For taxpayers, the practical question is whether Congress turns a narrow fee break and broader anti-abuse rules into law. Until then, current federal tax treatment remains in place.
Sources
- First reported US House Files 114-Page Crypto Tax Bill With $10 Fee Break Before Sept. 16 Vote — The Crypto Times
- U.S. crypto tax bill clears House committee in 38-5 vote — crypto.news
After TAX is an independent publication. Articles are general information, not tax, legal or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional about your situation.
