Calculate Crypto Tax
Crypto Tax Calculator
Estimate your cryptocurrency capital gains tax. Whether you sold Bitcoin, traded altcoins, or cashed out DeFi yields — see your tax liability with 2025 rates.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter purchase price — Total cost of acquiring the crypto (in USD).
- Enter sale price — Total USD value when you sold or traded.
- Enter holding period — How long you held the crypto in years.
- Select filing status — For correct tax bracket calculation.
- Enter annual income — Your total taxable income including this gain.
- Click Calculate — See federal tax, NIIT, and your after-tax profit.
How Is Crypto Taxed in the US?
The IRS classifies cryptocurrency as property, not currency. This means every crypto transaction can be a taxable event:
Taxable Events
- ✅ Selling crypto for fiat (USD)
- ✅ Trading one crypto for another (BTC → ETH)
- ✅ Using crypto to purchase goods or services
- ✅ Earning staking rewards or mining income
- ✅ Receiving DeFi yield farming rewards
- ✅ Earning salary or bonuses in crypto
Non-Taxable Events
- ❌ Buying crypto with fiat (no gain yet)
- ❌ Transferring crypto between your own wallets
- ❌ Holding crypto without selling
Short-Term vs Long-Term Crypto Gains
Same as stocks: if you hold crypto for less than 1 year, gains are taxed at ordinary income rates (10-37%). If you hold for 1 year or more, you get the lower long-term rates (0%, 15%, or 20%).
For example, a $50,000 gain on Bitcoin held for 11 months could cost $18,000 in federal tax (37% bracket). The same gain on Bitcoin held for 13 months costs only $7,500 (15% bracket). That 2-month difference saves $10,500.
Special Crypto Tax Situations
Staking and Mining
Staking rewards and mining income are taxed as ordinary income at fair market value on the date received. You also owe self-employment tax (15.3%) if mining is a business activity. The cost basis for these coins is their fair market value when you received them.
Crypto-to-Crypto Trades
Trading BTC for ETH is a taxable event — you're effectively selling BTC and buying ETH. You must calculate the gain/loss on the BTC you traded away, even though you never touched fiat currency. This makes tracking cost basis across multiple trades extremely important.
DeFi and Yield Farming
Providing liquidity, lending, and yield farming generate taxable income when you receive tokens. Each reward is ordinary income at fair market value. Withdrawing from a liquidity pool may trigger capital gains if your share has appreciated.
NFTs
Buying and selling NFTs follows the same rules as other crypto. However, NFT creators who mint and sell their own NFTs may owe self-employment tax on the proceeds as business income.
Crypto Tax Reporting Requirements
- Form 8949: Report each crypto sale/trade with date acquired, date sold, proceeds, and cost basis.
- Schedule D: Summarize capital gains and losses from all crypto transactions.
- Schedule 1: Report staking/mining income as "Other income."
- Question on Form 1040: "At any time during 2025, did you receive, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any virtual currency?" — Answer Yes if you had any taxable crypto events.