Cryptocurrency with ITIN — tax reporting and platforms

If you trade or receive cryptocurrency and file with an ITIN, your tax obligations are identical to those of an SSN filer: the IRS treats digital assets as property, every sale or exchange is a taxable event, and the rules attach to your tax residency, not to which nine-digit number sits at the top of your Form 1040. Resident aliens — generally anyone who meets the substantial presence test — report worldwide crypto activity on the same forms as citizens. What’s new is enforcement: starting with 2025 transactions, exchanges send the IRS a dedicated form, Form 1099-DA, so unreported crypto is now visible to the agency by default. If you still need a taxpayer number, see how to apply for an ITIN.

The digital-asset question every filer must answer

Form 1040 asks, near the top: “At any time during the tax year, did you: (a) receive (as a reward, award or payment for property or services); or (b) sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of a digital asset (or a financial interest in a digital asset)?” Every filer answers — including ITIN filers. Check “No” if you only held crypto, or only bought it with dollars. Check “Yes” if you sold it, swapped one coin for another, spent it, or received it as payment, a mining or staking reward, or an airdrop. Answering falsely is a false statement on a signed return; answering “Yes” by itself triggers no tax — the tax comes from the transactions you then report.

Form 1099-DA: the reporting net that started with 2025 trades

Beginning with transactions on or after January 1, 2025, custodial brokers — centralized exchanges that hold customer assets — must file Form 1099-DA, reporting your digital-asset sale proceeds to the IRS, with a copy to you. Basis reporting is phased in for transactions on or after January 1, 2026, and the IRS has granted transitional penalty relief to brokers through 2026. Practical consequence for the first filing seasons: your 2025-trade 1099-DA may show gross proceeds without cost basis, making it look like the entire sale is profit. It is your job — via your own records or crypto tax software — to attach the correct basis on Form 8949. A separate rule that would have forced DeFi front-ends to issue 1099-DAs was nullified by Congress in April 2025 (Public Law 119-5), so decentralized-exchange activity generally arrives with no form at all. No form does not mean no tax: you must report those disposals yourself.

Cost basis: what you paid, tracked wallet by wallet

Your basis is the amount you spent to acquire the crypto, including fees and commissions. When you sell only part of a holding, the IRS default is FIFO — first units bought are first sold — unless you use specific identification supported by records of the exact units. Two record-keeping rules matter now:

  • Wallet-by-wallet accounting. Under Rev. Proc. 2024-28, the old practice of pooling basis across all wallets and exchanges ended; from January 1, 2025, basis must be tracked per wallet or account.
  • Holding period starts the day after acquisition and ends the day you dispose. More than one year earns long-term treatment.

Export your transaction history from every exchange at least yearly — exchanges close, and reconstructing basis afterward is the hardest problem in crypto taxes.

Rates: same Schedule D as stocks

Crypto gains land on Form 8949 and Schedule D, exactly like stock sales — see filing taxes with an ITIN. Short-term gains (held one year or less) are taxed at ordinary income rates. Long-term gains get 0%, 15%, or 20% — for tax year 2025 the 0% rate covers taxable income up to $48,350 (single) or $96,700 (married filing jointly). Losses offset gains plus up to $3,000 of other income per year, carrying forward indefinitely. One genuine difference from stocks, as of mid-2026: the wash-sale rule does not apply to crypto. Section 1091 covers “stock or securities,” and the IRS classifies digital assets as property, so selling a coin at a loss and immediately rebuying it does not currently disallow the loss. Treat this as fragile — federal proposals to extend wash-sale rules to crypto are active, so verify the rule still holds before relying on it in a future year.

Crypto received as payment is ordinary income

If you are paid in crypto for work, goods, or services, the fair market value in dollars on the date you receive it is ordinary income — reportable even if no one sends you a form. That same value becomes your cost basis, so when you later sell, you are taxed only on movement after receipt. Mining, staking rewards, and most airdrops follow the same receipt-at-FMV principle. For independent workers this income also feeds self-employment tax and the quarterly Form 1040-ES estimated-payment cycle — see W-2 vs 1099 work with an ITIN.

Exchanges and your ITIN

US exchanges must collect a certified taxpayer identification number. Kraken’s published verification requirements list “Social Security Number or Tax ID (US clients)” — wording that accommodates an ITIN. Coinbase requires customers to certify a TIN on Form W-9 per its help center, but whether its onboarding flow accepts an ITIN in place of an SSN is not clearly documented — confirm with Coinbase support before relying on it. Either way, the IRS side is settled: an ITIN is a valid TIN on Form W-9, and certifying it is what prevents the flat 24% backup withholding from being taken out of your proceeds. If an exchange won’t onboard you, the tax obligation still exists — wallets and peer-to-peer trades are reportable identically. An ITIN also works for the bank account you’ll cash out to; see banking with an ITIN.

Last verified: 2026-06-11. Sources: IRS — digital assets, IRS — Form 1099-DA, IRS — virtual currency FAQs, Kraken verification requirements.

General information — not tax or investment advice. Crypto tax rules are changing rapidly; verify current-year rules before filing. For case-specific guidance, consult an Enrolled Agent or CPA with digital-asset experience.