From the journal

House Ways and Means Committee Holds Digital Asset Tax Legislative Hearing, June 9, 2026

The House Ways and Means Committee held a full-committee legislative hearing on June 9, 2026, examining eight bills and discussion drafts on digital asset taxation. The hearing, the Committee's first legislative hearing on digital asset tax rules in years, covered proposals addressing mining and staking income classification, de minimis transaction reporting exemptions, charitable deduction rules for crypto donations, and extension of wash-sale and anti-abuse provisions to digital assets.

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The House Ways and Means Committee held a full-committee legislative hearing on June 9, 2026, examining eight bills and discussion drafts on digital asset taxation. The hearing is the first legislative hearing on digital asset tax rules the Committee has held in several years, placing the proposals at the initial consultation stage.

The bills examined include the 'Less Tax Paperwork for Digital Asset Owners Act' (Rep. Yakym), which would establish de minimis exemptions reducing reporting obligations for small digital asset transactions; the 'Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act' (Rep. Carey), addressing when income from mining and staking is recognized for tax purposes; the 'Charitable Deductions for Digital Asset Donations Act' (Rep. Kelly), clarifying deductibility of donated digital assets; the 'Providing Analogous Rules for Digital Assets Act' (Rep. Kustoff), extending to digital assets the same tax treatment applied to traditional financial assets; the 'Digital Assets Voluntary Disclosure Program Act' (Rep. Bean), creating a structured voluntary disclosure mechanism for taxpayers with prior unreported digital asset income; and the 'Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act' (Rep. Arrington), extending wash-sale and related anti-abuse provisions to digital asset transactions. Chairman Smith identified three gaps in current tax law the bills aim to address: common digital asset transactions do not fit existing tax rules; digital assets lack the tax protections available to traditional financial assets; and compliance burdens make ordinary digital asset commerce impractical.

Digital asset holders, miners, stakers, validators, charitable donors of crypto, and businesses conducting commercial digital asset transactions stand to be affected by these proposals. Exchanges and wallet providers may face new or revised reporting obligations if the analogous rules bill advances. Taxpayers who have sold digital assets at a loss and immediately repurchased them, a practice currently outside wash-sale rules, would face new restrictions if the anti-abuse bill is enacted.

None of the bills has been marked up or voted out of Committee. The hearing is a consultation-stage proceeding, and the timing of any markup, floor vote, or enactment remains open. Several bills address overlapping issues, including the treatment of mining and staking income, and these competing approaches will require reconciliation before any bill can advance to the floor.

Licentium advises on digital asset tax compliance and legislative monitoring. We maintain a partner network of U.S. tax specialists. Contact us to assess how the proposals under review may affect your current or planned digital asset operations. Work we undertake includes crypto tax structuring, voluntary disclosure guidance, exchange reporting compliance analysis, and legislative impact assessment for digital asset businesses.

Source: House Ways and Means Committee, Full Committee Legislative Hearing on Digital Asset Taxation, June 9, 2026

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