Figure out exactly how much a well-timed round of crypto tax-loss harvesting will save you this year — before the wash-sale rule closes the window for good.
Enter your filing position, your realized year-to-date gains and losses, and the candidate losses you are considering harvesting. The calculator applies the federal netting rules — short-term first, long-term first, cross-netting, the $3,000 ordinary-income offset, carryforward — and returns an estimated net tax savings for TY2025. Results are planning estimates, not tax advice.
These rates drive the tax-savings math. Use your best estimate if you are unsure.
Gains and losses you have already locked in this year, separated by holding period.
Positions currently at an unrealized loss that you are considering selling this year.
Spot crypto is treated as property under current IRS guidance, so IRC §1091 does not apply. Tokenized securities are the exception. The economic substance doctrine and related-party rules still apply to every trade.
The calculator gives you the number. The guide shows you how to find every position worth acting on, how to avoid the traps that disqualify a harvested loss, and how to execute in a way that holds up under IRS scrutiny.
A disciplined walk-through from inventory to execution: inventory every wallet, identify candidate losses, match them against your realized gains, plan the trade and re-entry, then execute and reconcile. Roughly 30–60 minutes with your crypto tax software.
Economic substance doctrine. Related-party rules under §267. Constructive sales under §1259. Tokenized securities. Wallet-by-wallet basis compliance. State-level divergence. The holding-period reset. And the one most investors miss: harvesting is deferral, not elimination.
Yes, §1091 doesn’t apply to spot crypto today. No, that doesn’t mean anything goes. Learn where the IRS can still disallow a loss under economic substance, §267, and §1259 even when the wash-sale rule is off the table.
The universal basis method was retired January 1, 2025. Understand what the safe-harbor allocation requirement means for your harvesting plan, how FIFO vs. Specific Identification changes your after-tax result, and when HIFO is worth the effort.
A paper version of the interactive tool above, plus a full federal netting walkthrough (lines 1–6) and a savings estimate block that handles federal ordinary, federal capital gain, and state tax. Print it, fill it out with your numbers, bring it to your CPA.
A six-phase calendar from Q3 preparation through January–February 1099-DA reconciliation. When to pull your first realized position report, when to execute, when to document, and when to reconcile. Built for calendar-year taxpayers.
Here is what most crypto investors don’t realize about TY2025. When your exchange issues Form 1099-DA, it reports your gross proceeds to the IRS. For most spot crypto sales this year, it does not report your cost basis. That field is voluntary for TY2025 — and it is blank in the file the IRS receives.
Yes. The IRS classifies crypto as property under Notice 2014-21, which means the wash-sale rule at IRC §1091 does not currently apply to spot positions. You can sell a losing position, claim the loss, and repurchase the same asset without the 30-day waiting period that applies to stocks. Congress has proposed extending §1091 to digital assets every year since 2021 — none of those proposals has become law, but the rule change has been on the table long enough that the planning window is not guaranteed to stay open.
Probably yes. If you used a centralized exchange in 2025, your 1099-DA may still be on its way (exchanges had until February 17, 2026 to distribute them). If you only used DeFi, you won’t receive one — but your activity is still taxable and you need to self-report. The guide covers both scenarios.
No — it’s designed to help you understand the 1099-DA landscape so you can have a more informed conversation with your tax professional, or identify when you need one. For complex situations involving multiple exchanges, significant DeFi activity, or six-figure portfolios, we strongly recommend working with a crypto-specialized CPA.
This guide was updated in February 2026 and reflects the latest IRS guidance, including the DeFi broker rule repeal (Public Law 119-5), transitional penalty relief (Notice 2024-56), the alternative lot identification methods (Notice 2025-7), and backup withholding relief (Notice 2025-33). We also cover the PARITY Act discussion draft and GENIUS Act implications.
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