The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee is preparing to consider a new 114-page crypto tax package that would introduce several changes to the taxation of digital assets.
However, one proposal important to miners and stakers is missing: a provision that would allow them to defer taxes on crypto rewards until those tokens are sold.
The provision was included in Representative Mike Carey’s Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, introduced in June.
It would have given taxpayers a choice between paying tax on newly created tokens when they receive them or treating the tokens more like self-created property, with tax due when the assets are eventually sold.
Because the provision was left out of H.R. 10357, the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, existing reward-tax timing would remain in place.
This means mining and staking rewards may be taxable when they are received or when they come under the recipient’s control, even if the recipient has not yet sold the tokens for cash.
Bill Targets Fees, Stablecoins and Crypto Lending
While the package does not include the proposed reward-tax deferral, it contains several other measures affecting the digital asset industry.
The bill would classify income earned from blockchain validator activities as ordinary income and establish rules for determining whether that income is sourced inside or outside the United States. It would also allow certain investment trusts to stake digital assets without losing their tax status.
Another proposal would prevent taxpayers from recognizing gains or losses when crypto is used to pay network or transaction fees of up to $10.
The package also includes special tax treatment for qualifying US dollar stablecoins and would allow certain digital asset loans to take place without being treated as taxable sales.
Together, these measures are designed to provide clearer tax rules for several common crypto activities while reducing the tax burden associated with smaller transactions.
Industry Group Call for Reward-Tax Relief
The package also proposes simplified accounting rules for widely traded crypto assets and would extend wash-sale and constructive-sale rules to digital assets. In addition, taxpayers would be offered a voluntary disclosure program to correct earlier digital asset tax violations.
The decision to exclude the mining and staking of reward-deferral provision has drawn attention from industry groups.
The Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and Digital Chamber, previously urged Congress to pass Carey’s legislation as introduced.
The groups argued that taxing rewards before they can be sold creates liquidity problems for miners and stakers. They also opposed an amendment that would have limited the proposed deferral period to five years.
The House package arrives as the Senate considers whether to advance the CLARITY Act, which would establish how the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission divide oversight of the US crypto market.
The two developments highlight Congress’s broader effort to establish clearer rules for the growing digital asset sector.
