When Are Crypto Taxes Due? US Deadlines and Timeline

The date is the easy part. What makes crypto different from a normal return is that the work needed before you can file is unbounded, and it is usually discovered in the last two weeks.

The dates

The US tax year is the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December. The filing deadline for that year's return is 15 April of the following year. Where 15 April falls on a weekend or a holiday the date shifts, so confirm the exact date for the year you are filing.

Broker forms arrive in the early part of the year. Form 1099-DA reports gross proceeds from digital asset broker transactions, with brokers required to report gross proceeds for transactions effected on or after 1 January 2025 and basis on certain transactions effected on or after 1 January 2026. Those forms go to the IRS as well as to you, so the window between receiving them and filing is when reconciliation has to happen.

The distinction that costs people money

An extension of time to file is not an extension of time to pay. If you request an extension, the return is due later, but the tax was still due on the original date, and interest and penalties on underpayment run from then.

For crypto this matters more than for a salary return, because the amount owed is frequently unknown until the reconciliation is finished. The practical answer is to estimate and pay by the original deadline even when you know the return itself will be late, rather than treating the extension as breathing room on the money.

Why the work is bigger than the form

Before you can complete Form 8949 you need every disposal for the year with a cost basis attached. That means:

• Every venue you used, including ones you stopped using mid year and ones that have since restricted or closed.
• Every self custody wallet, with transfers between your own wallets identified as transfers rather than sales.
• Cost basis tracked per wallet or account under Revenue Procedure 2024-28, rather than pooled.
• Income events, staking, mining, airdrops and forks, valued at receipt, with those values carried into basis.
• Reconciliation of your figures against each 1099-DA, since the IRS holds a copy.

None of that is fast when it starts in April, and exchange data export is the step most likely to fail at the worst moment.

A realistic timeline

• During the year. Connect accounts as you open them, and set aside tax in dollars at the point of each large realising event rather than at year end.
• January. Export or sync everything for the closed year while accounts are still live. This is the single highest value hour of the whole cycle.
• February. Resolve missing basis and unmatched transfers while there is time to go back to a venue for data.
• Early March. Reconcile against broker forms as they arrive.
• Before 15 April. File, or extend and pay the estimate.

Other dates that can apply

Taxpayers who owe enough outside withholding may have estimated tax obligations during the year rather than a single April payment. Foreign account reporting on Form 8938 or the FBAR may apply where you hold assets on non US platforms, and the rules for crypto specifically are unsettled, so that is one to confirm on your own facts rather than assume either way.

Our US crypto tax guide covers the forms and rates, and crypto tax reports covers producing the figures the deadline depends on.

General information, not tax advice. Rules change and depend on your circumstances. Confirm the current position with the relevant tax authority or a qualified tax professional.