Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the crypto tax bill in a 38–5 vote.
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Crypto payments covering network or transaction fees of $10 or less could qualify for tax relief.
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Treasury would establish a voluntary disclosure program for correcting earlier tax returns.
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Mining and staking rewards would be ordinary income, but the timing of recognition remains unresolved.
The House Ways and Means Committee has advanced legislation establishing the first dedicated federal tax framework for cryptocurrencies.
Lawmakers voted 38–5 on Wednesday to approve the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act and send it to the full House. The bill addresses small transaction fees, mining and staking income, investment trusts and past tax-reporting errors.
Its advancement comes as broader crypto market-structure legislation remains stalled in the Senate following the CLARITY Act’s failed procedural vote.
Bill Creates $10 Exemption for Crypto Transaction Fees
The legislation would create a limited tax exemption for cryptocurrency used to pay network or transaction fees valued at $10 or less.
The provision is intended to reduce the reporting burden associated with small blockchain fees, which can currently create taxable events even when the amounts involved are minimal.
The exemption would not apply to service providers conducting transactions on behalf of customers. If enacted, the provision would take effect in December 2027.
Industry representatives have called for broader de minimis relief covering everyday cryptocurrency purchases, but the current bill limits the exemption to qualifying transaction and network fees.
The bill requires the Treasury Department to create a Digital Asset Voluntary Disclosure Program within 12 months of enactment.
Qualifying taxpayers could use the program to amend previously filed returns and settle outstanding tax, interest and penalty obligations related to digital assets.
The initiative could give taxpayers an organized process for correcting earlier reporting errors while helping the Internal Revenue Service collect unpaid liabilities.
Further details about eligibility requirements and the treatment of participating taxpayers would need to be established by Treasury.
Mining and Staking Rewards Face Ordinary Income Tax
The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act specifies that cryptocurrency earned through mining and staking would be treated as ordinary income.
However, the legislation does not resolve when those rewards become taxable. An earlier draft included an option allowing taxpayers to defer income recognition, but lawmakers removed that provision from the version approved by the committee.
Democratic Representative Steven Horsford said Congress still needs to determine whether mining and staking rewards should be recognized when they are created, received, or sold.
The bill would also allow certain investment trusts to stake their digital-asset holdings without staking activity alone changing their tax status.
House Vote May Wait Until After Elections
The full House is preparing to leave Washington until after the November elections, making an immediate vote unlikely.
Alison Mangiero of the Crypto Council for Innovation said lawmakers will probably consider the bill during the lame-duck session. Attention will also shift to the Senate Finance Committee, which has expressed interest in digital-asset tax legislation.
Mangiero said lawmakers still have an opportunity to refine income-recognition rules, expand relief for small transactions and address technical implementation issues.
The committee vote occurred less than a day after the CLARITY Act failed to clear its first procedural hurdle in the Senate.
Senate Democrats cited unresolved ethics concerns, including President Donald Trump’s substantial cryptocurrency interests, as a reason for opposing that legislation.
Similar objections emerged during Wednesday’s tax debate. Democratic Representative Lloyd Doggett argued that the bill would deliver significant tax benefits to wealthy cryptocurrency investors and the Trump family.
Supporters described the proposal as a bipartisan effort to replace uncertainty with clearer and more administrable tax rules.
