House Republicans Unveil Seven Crypto Tax Bills Ahead of Key Hearing
House Republican leadership has introduced seven new cryptocurrency tax bills that are slated to be the central focus of a significant hearing next week. These legislative proposals address a range of contentious issues, including de minimis exemptions, the tax treatment of rewards from crypto staking and mining, and the establishment of an IRS safe harbor for individuals who have previously failed to report crypto gains. This move marks the first instance of congressional leadership in either the House or Senate advancing tax-focused cryptocurrency legislation, despite previous attempts to introduce similar bills in both chambers.
The new crypto tax bills, circulated by the Republican leadership of the House Ways and Means Committee, are expected to be discussed at a committee hearing on digital asset taxation scheduled for Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The seven bills, which have been reviewed, appear to fulfill long-standing requests from the cryptocurrency industry. One bill, titled the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, proposes to exempt cryptocurrency generated through staking and mining activities from a holder’s taxable income. In recent years, legal challenges have emerged regarding whether staking and mining rewards should be considered taxable income at the time of their creation. Currently, cryptocurrency users who stake their assets—meaning they pledge a certain amount to a network like Ethereum or Solana—are required to report the rewards they receive as income, even if those rewards are never sold or converted into fiat currency.
Another piece of legislation, the Less Tax Paperwork for Digital Asset Owners Act, aims to establish a $10 de minimis tax exemption for cryptocurrency network transaction fees, commonly referred to as gas fees. Under this proposed law, a taxpayer could exempt up to 5,000 such transactions annually. At present, cryptocurrency users are obligated to report every transaction on a blockchain network as a taxable event, regardless of whether the value is less than a few cents.
Notably, however, the bills scheduled for discussion on Tuesday do not include a broader de minimis exemption for everyday purchases made with popular cryptocurrencies such as stablecoins and Bitcoin. A cryptocurrency tax bill introduced last year by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) had proposed a $300 de minimis for transactions in any cryptocurrency, with an annual cap of $5,000, and would have exempted stablecoin payments.
Leaders within the cryptocurrency industry have long advocated for a more expansive de minimis exemption for crypto transactions, believing it would foster the use of digital assets in daily commerce, particularly for stablecoins, which are crypto tokens pegged to the dollar and were legalized under last year’s GENIUS Act. Without such exemptions, crypto users face the burden of calculating capital gains taxes each time they use Bitcoin or stablecoins to purchase goods or services.
An additional bill slated for debate on Tuesday would exempt U.S. citizens from being classified as U.S. residents for certain digital asset sales if at least 10% of the income derived from the sale is paid to a foreign country as income tax. Furthermore, the Digital Assets Voluntary Disclosure Program Act would offer U.S. crypto holders a two-year amnesty period to self-report past failures to pay taxes on their cryptocurrency holdings. Individuals who pay the outstanding taxes or establish a payment plan would be protected from future criminal liability.
The Digital Chamber, a cryptocurrency trade association based in Washington D.C., stated that the tax bills were developed through “months of industry engagement.” Cody Carbone, the group’s CEO, commented in a statement, “We’re encouraged to see the suite of discussion drafts. Next Tuesday’s legislative hearing is a welcome opportunity to refine these proposals and keep the bipartisan tax effort moving forward.”
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