2026 tax year
Crypto tax calculator
The IRS treats crypto as property, not currency. So every sale is a taxable gain or loss.
Selling, swapping or spending crypto is a taxable event: you owe tax on the gain since you acquired it. Held a year or less, it is a short-term gain at ordinary rates; held longer, it is long-term at 0/15/20%. Staking rewards are ordinary income when you receive them. This works out the federal tax across all of it, and, unlike stocks, no wash-sale rule limits your losses.
Coin sales
Staking, NFTs and other income
Enter your crypto gains, staking and income.
Worked example, $5,000 short-term, $15,000 long-term, $3,000 staking
A single filer with $90,000 of wages has $5,000 of short-term crypto gains, $15,000 of long-term gains, and $3,000 of staking rewards:
| Component | Tax |
|---|---|
| Wages, staking and short-term gains at ordinary rates | $12,730 |
| Long-term gains ($15,000) at 0/15/20% | $2,250 |
| Total federal tax | $14,980 |
The $15,000 long-term gain is taxed at 15%, $2,250, while the short-term gain and staking are folded into ordinary income at this filer's regular rate. Holding the coins that produced the short-term gain past a year would have moved them to the 15% rate too.
Questions
How is cryptocurrency taxed?
As property. When you dispose of it, sell for dollars, swap one coin for another, or pay for something, you realize a capital gain or loss equal to the change in value since you acquired it. Short-term (≤1 year) is taxed at ordinary rates, long-term (>1 year) at 0/15/20%.
Are staking rewards taxed?
Yes, as ordinary income at their fair market value when you gain control of them, per IRS Revenue Ruling 2023-14, whether or not you sell. That value becomes your cost basis, so a later sale is a capital gain or loss from there. Mining as a business can instead be self-employment income.
Do wash-sale rules apply to crypto?
Not currently. The wash-sale rule that blocks a loss when you rebuy a security within 30 days applies to stocks, not to crypto, because crypto is property rather than a security. You can sell a coin at a loss, claim it, and buy it straight back, a live tax-loss-harvesting advantage, though proposed law could close it.
Is swapping one coin for another taxable?
Yes. Trading Bitcoin for Ethereum is a sale of the Bitcoin at its dollar value that day, and a taxable gain or loss, there is no like-kind exchange for crypto. The same applies to spending crypto on goods.
What about NFTs?
NFTs are property too. A flip within a year is a short-term gain; held longer, long-term. Some NFTs may count as collectibles, which carry a top long-term rate of 28% rather than 20%, a nuance beyond this calculator, so check an NFT's classification if it is a large gain.
Related tools
- Capital gains tax calculator stocks use the same rates
- Cost basis calculator track basis across coin lots
- Quarterly tax calculator no one withholds on crypto gains
Estimate for the 2026 tax year. Pick a state to add its tax, crypto gains use your state's capital-gains treatment, staking is ordinary state income. Not tax advice.