What a Form 1099-DA reports
Form 1099-DA is the broker statement for digital asset sales. According to the IRS 2025 instructions for Form 1099-DA, brokers report gross proceeds for sales effected in 2025, and are not required to report basis for those sales.
For sales on or after January 1, 2026, the current IRS instructions require basis for covered securities: generally, digital assets acquired after 2025 in a custodial account with that broker and held there until the sale. Assets bought earlier or transferred in are generally noncovered, and basis reporting for them is optional.
Each form reflects only the issuing platform. Transfers between your own accounts, deposits, withdrawals, and staking or other rewards are not sale proceeds, so they are not part of the comparison.
Why the totals can differ
- Missing or misclassified rows. A sale recorded in software as a transfer, or a sale missing from the import, changes the proceeds total.
- Duplicate imports. Overlapping CSV files or an API sync on top of a file import can count the same sale twice.
- Year and time zone boundaries. A trade near midnight on December 31 can land in a different tax year if a file was imported in the wrong time zone.
- Fees. The IRS instructions describe box 1f proceeds as reduced by digital asset transaction costs. Software that records the fee separately may show a different gross figure.
- Blank or partial basis. For transferred-in or older assets, the broker may have no acquisition record. Your software may hold that history from another account.
- Rounding and pricing. Crypto-to-crypto trades valued at market prices can differ by small amounts between sources.
Compare in this order
- Match the scope. One broker, one tax year. Filter your software to the same platform and dates.
- Compare proceeds before gains. Proceeds come straight from sales; gains also depend on basis and lot selection, which adds more variables.
- Count the disposals. Compare the number of sales and their dates with the detailed transaction export from the broker.
- Isolate each difference. Note the row, the amount, and the reason: missing, duplicated, misclassified, fee treatment, or timing.
- Then review basis. Where basis is blank or differs, trace the acquisition records behind it.
Software providers publish their own reconciliation steps; for example, CoinTracker’s 1099-DA mismatch article lists re-syncing, checking misclassified entries, duplicates, and the cost basis method.
Demo: explain a proceeds difference
Fictional records · No tax calculation.
- Form 1099-DA proceeds $12,480
- Broker total for the year, net of transaction costs.
- Software proceeds $13,045
- Same broker and year, before review.
- Duplicate sale $520
- One sale imported from both an API sync and a CSV file.
- Fee treatment $45
- Selling fees recorded separately instead of reducing proceeds.
$12,480 + $520 + $45 = $13,045. Removing the duplicate and aligning the fee treatment explains the difference; each step is written down with its source row.
Document the differences for your preparer
Keep the Form 1099-DA, the broker’s detailed export, your software report, and a short note for each difference. Unresolved items stay visible as open questions rather than being forced to match.
Reporting the result is your preparer’s decision. The IRS instructions for Form 8949 include separate checkboxes for digital asset transactions and describe how basis adjustments are entered; a documented reconciliation gives your CPA or EA the evidence for those choices.
When a records review can help
If differences span several platforms or years, Elena’s 1099-DA reconciliation review compares the broker statement with source exports and software records and documents what explains each difference, within an agreed scope.
For your first inquiry, list the broker, tax year, software, and the figures that differ.
See how the records fit together
View the illustrative record package to compare source rows, a working ledger, correction notes, and an open-items list.