Crypto Capital Gains Tax (2026)
The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, not currency (see the IRS's digital assets page). That one fact drives everything: selling, trading, or spending crypto is a taxable disposition, and the profit follows exactly the same short-term and long-term capital gains rules as stocks. Estimate any crypto sale with the free capital gains tax calculator.
In short: hold crypto more than one year and gains are taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%. Sell or trade within a year and gains are ordinary income at up to 37%. Swapping one coin for another is a taxable event even if you never touch dollars.
What counts as a taxable crypto event
- Selling for dollars. The classic case: sale price minus your cost basis is the gain or loss.
- Trading one crypto for another. Swapping BTC for ETH is a disposition of the BTC at its market value that day. Taxable, even with no cash involved.
- Spending crypto. Buying anything with crypto disposes of the coins at their current value; appreciation since you acquired them is a gain.
- Not taxable: buying crypto with dollars and holding it, or moving coins between your own wallets. Income-type events (mining, staking rewards, getting paid in crypto) are taxed as ordinary income when received, and that value becomes your basis.
Short-term vs long-term: same rules as stocks
Hold a coin one year or less and the gain is short-term, taxed at ordinary federal rates of 10% to 37%. Hold more than one year and it is long-term, taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your taxable income, exactly as the capital gains guide explains. The 3.8% NIIT can apply above $200,000 of MAGI (single) or $250,000 (married filing jointly), and most states tax crypto gains as ordinary income; see your state's treatment.
A worked example
Say you bought a coin for $10,000 and sell it for $18,000 after 14 months. The $8,000 gain is long-term; for a single filer with $60,000 of taxable income it falls in the 15% bracket: about $1,200 of federal tax. Sell the same position at 11 months instead and the $8,000 is short-term, taxed at your 22% marginal rate: about $1,760, plus state tax either way. Waiting three months would save roughly $560. The calculator shows this comparison for your exact numbers.
Losses, records, and reporting
Crypto losses work like stock losses: they offset gains dollar for dollar, then up to $3,000 of ordinary income per year, with the rest carried forward. Every disposition belongs on your return for that year, and exchanges now issue Form 1099-DA reporting sales to the IRS. Keep records of dates, amounts, and basis for every lot; with many trades, per-lot tracking is the hard part, and this simple calculator models one purchase and one sale at a time.
Frequently asked questions
Is crypto taxed the same as stocks?
Yes. The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, so the same short-term and long-term capital gains rules and rates apply: ordinary income rates within one year, 0%, 15%, or 20% beyond it, plus the 3.8% NIIT for high earners.
Is trading one cryptocurrency for another taxable?
Yes. A crypto-to-crypto trade is a disposition of the coin you give up, at its fair market value on the trade date. Any appreciation since you acquired it is a taxable gain even though you received coins rather than dollars.
Do I owe tax if my crypto just goes up?
No. Unrealized gains are not taxed. Tax is due only when you dispose of the crypto by selling, trading, or spending it. Simply holding through any price rise costs nothing in tax.
More guides
- Capital Gains Tax Explained: Short-Term vs Long-Term (2026)
- State capital gains tax rates by state
- Capital gains tax FAQ
This guide is general information, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Crypto tax has evolving reporting rules and edge cases (airdrops, forks, DeFi) beyond this overview. Confirm details with a tax professional or the IRS.
← Back to the calculator