House Committee Advances Crypto Tax Bill 38-5, a Day After CLARITY Act’s Senate Setback

While the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate, a narrower crypto bill quietly cleared its first hurdle in the House. On September 16, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 38-5 to advance the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, a bipartisan measure that would build the first dedicated federal tax framework for digital assets — something Congress has never actually written into law despite crypto trading being taxable for over a decade under general IRS guidance.

The bill’s core provisions include a $10 de minimis exemption for small crypto transactions, meaning minor payments or fees below that threshold would no longer trigger reportable taxable events. It also extends the wash-sale rule — which currently disallows claiming a loss on a security if you buy a substantially identical one within 30 days — to widely traded digital assets, closing a loophole crypto traders have used that stock traders cannot. Additional provisions address tax treatment for qualifying dollar-pegged stablecoins, crypto lending arrangements, and income from mining and staking activity.

The lopsided 38-5 vote stands in sharp contrast to the CLARITY Act’s near party-line collapse a day earlier, and that contrast is the point industry advocates are making. Where market-structure legislation touches politically fraught questions about presidential conflicts of interest and which federal agency gets jurisdiction over trillions of dollars in trading volume, a tax bill is a narrower, more technical fix that both parties can plausibly agree solves a genuine problem: crypto holders currently operate without clear guidance on basic questions like wash sales or staking income timing.

The bill next heads toward a vote in the full House, though a companion measure would still need to pass the Senate and be reconciled before reaching the President’s desk. Even so, in a year where crypto’s biggest legislative swing struck out, the tax bill’s smooth committee passage gives the industry a more achievable, if less sweeping, win to point to before the midterms.

Trying to figure out how crypto taxes actually work today? Coin680’s Bitcoin Academy covers the basics of holding, trading, and reporting digital assets.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Tax legislation can change substantially before final passage. Consult a qualified tax professional for guidance specific to your situation.