Tax formsDigital assets1099
Form 1099-DA and prediction markets: what the form covers
Form 1099-DA is the IRS form on which a U.S. broker reports a customer’s digital asset sales: gross proceeds for 2025, and cost basis for covered assets from 2026. As of October 28, 2026, Kalshi’s help center lists a 1099-DA from ZeroHash. The instructions never name event contracts, and no venue checked says its 1099-DA reports event contract profit or loss.
By Owen Monagan, Founder & CEOUpdated Checked October 28, 2026
The form
What is Form 1099-DA? Digital asset proceeds from broker transactions.
A broker’s report of one customer sale. Here is an invented crypto sale and the Form 8949 box it points to.
An invented 2026 sale, not a real statement. Realize reads no Form 1099-DA.
The IRS says to use Form 1099-DA “to report digital asset proceeds from broker transactions.” A broker is anyone who “stands ready to effect sales of digital assets to be made by others.” The statement goes to the customer and to the IRS.
Who files Form 1099-DA, and who gets one
The instructions say that “generally, only a U.S. digital asset broker is required to report on Form 1099-DA.” The recipient copy says that a person who gets one “generally sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of a financial interest in a digital asset” and checks Yes on the digital asset question on page 1 of Form 1040. See the form.
Digital asset
What counts as a digital asset, and where do event contracts stand?
The instructions define it by the ledger. They never name event contracts.
What the instructions say
The Form 1099-DA instructions define a digital asset as “any digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger (such as a blockchain or any similar technology)” and “that is not cash.” Cash means U.S. dollars or any convertible foreign currency issued by a government or central bank.
What they leave out
The instructions do not mention event contracts, prediction markets or Kalshi. The IRS pages for Form 1099-DA do not either. There is no IRS guidance on whether an event contract is a digital asset. That includes the outcome tokens on polymarket.com, which its docs describe as balances on an onchain ledger. Polymarket US is a different product that trades in US dollars.
Of the venues in the table below, none describes its 1099-DA as reporting event contract profit or loss.
Boxes
What do the boxes on Form 1099-DA show? Box 1f proceeds and box 1g cost basis.
Most of a sale sits in boxes 1a to 1g. A few checkboxes say how to report it.
Form 1099-DA boxes 1a to 1g
| Box | What it holds |
|---|---|
| 1a to 1e | The asset’s token code and name, the number of units, the date acquired and the date sold or disposed of |
| 1f | Gross proceeds, reduced by transaction costs such as fees, commissions and transfer taxes |
| 1g | The adjusted basis of the asset sold. A broker may leave it blank for a noncovered asset when box 9 is checked |
Boxes 2, 6 and 9, and the Form 8949 letter
| Box | What it holds |
|---|---|
| 2 | Checked when basis was reported to the IRS |
| 6 | Gain or loss: short-term, long-term or ordinary |
| 9 | Checked when the asset is a noncovered security |
| Top of form | The applicable checkbox on Form 8949: G short-term and J long-term with basis reported, H short-term and K long-term without, Y when the holding period is unknown |
Phase-in
When did Form 1099-DA start, and what changes for 2026?
Proceeds began with 2025 sales. Basis for covered assets is added from 2026.
The rules come from Treasury Decision 10000, published in the Federal Register on July 9, 2024. For 2025 sales, the 2025 instructions require gross proceeds, and say that “brokers are not required to report basis information with respect to sales effected in 2025.” Basis may be reported voluntarily.
The 2026 instructions make proceeds mandatory for all digital assets and basis mandatory “for digital assets that are covered securities.” Basis for noncovered securities is voluntary.
Covered and noncovered assets for Form 1099-DA basis
An asset is covered only if “it was acquired in an account for which the broker provided custodial services and was held in that account until the broker effects the disposition.” An asset acquired before 2026, or transferred in to the broker, is noncovered. For a noncovered asset the broker can check box 9 and leave basis blank.
When the customer names no units, the instructions say a broker “generally must first report the sale of the earliest units of the digital asset purchased by the customer.” Publication 1099 sets February 15 as the due date for statements to recipients, or the next business day when it falls on a weekend or holiday.
Venues
Does Kalshi send a Form 1099-DA? Which venues say they do.
Kalshi and Coinbase both name a 1099-DA. Here is each venue’s own wording, with the day it was read.
| Venue | What its own pages say | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Kalshi | The help center lists a 1099-DA that “contains digital asset transaction reporting from ZeroHash,” for users who “hit certain reporting thresholds as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).” The article does not mention event contracts. | October 28, 2026 |
| Coinbase | Its help center says crypto sales and exchanges are reported on Form 1099-DA, and futures and other instruments on Form 1099-B. None of its tax pages mentions prediction markets. | October 25, 2026 |
| Robinhood | “Robinhood doesn’t provide a 1099 for event contract trades.” The article does not mention Form 1099-DA. | October 28, 2026 |
| Polymarket US | Its participant agreement has customers consent to electronic delivery of “all tax forms, including, without limitation, IRS Form 1099-B.” Neither the agreement nor its changelog mentions a 1099-DA. | October 28, 2026 |
| polymarket.com | A separate, crypto-based product. The top-level listing of its help center shows no tax or 1099 article. | October 28, 2026 |
Kalshi’s article lists a 1099-DA among the forms it sends. It does not say which transactions the form covers or what basis it shows. Coinbase’s 1099-DA page covers crypto sales. The instructions limit the form to U.S. digital asset brokers, and Polymarket US and polymarket.com are separate products, so each row stands alone.
Crypto ramps
Does depositing or withdrawing USDC create a Form 1099-DA?
The IRS defines a sale broadly. The venues checked do not tie that definition to their contract accounts.
What the IRS counts as a sale
The instructions list, among the sales a broker reports:
- “The disposition of digital assets in exchange for cash, stored-value cards, different digital assets, or services provided by the broker”
- “The disposition of digital assets to pay for securities, commodities, options, regulated futures contracts, securities futures contracts, or forward contracts acquired through the broker”
For qualifying stablecoins there is an optional reporting method. A broker using it “is not required to report designated sales of qualifying stablecoins” while the customer’s aggregate gross proceeds from that broker do not exceed $10,000 for the year.
What Kalshi and Coinbase say about USDC
Kalshi’s crypto deposits article says crypto transfers are processed through Zero Hash, which converts crypto to and from fiat. Its 1099-DA is “from ZeroHash.” Kalshi does not say whether ZeroHash uses the stablecoin method.
As of October 25, 2026, Coinbase’s Form 1099-DA page lists crypto-to-fiat exchanges, such as converting Bitcoin to USD, as sales. Its prediction markets introduction says contracts “can only be purchased with settled USD and USDC.” No venue checked says how a contract purchase funded with crypto is reported on a 1099-DA.
Form 8949
Where does Form 1099-DA go on Form 8949? Boxes G to L.
Digital asset sales have six boxes of their own. Boxes C and F are for everything else.
| Box | Label on Form 8949 |
|---|---|
| G | Short-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA showing basis was reported to the IRS (see Note above) |
| H | Short-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA showing basis was not reported to the IRS |
| I | Short-term digital asset transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-DA or Form 1099-B |
| J | Long-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA showing basis was reported to the IRS (see Note above) |
| K | Long-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-DA showing basis was not reported to the IRS |
| L | Long-term digital asset transactions not reported to you on Form 1099-DA or Form 1099-B |
| C | Short-term transactions, other than digital asset transactions, not reported to you on Form 1099-B or Form 1099-DA |
| F | Long-term transactions, other than digital asset transactions, not reported to you on Form 1099-B or Form 1099-DA |
The letter at the top of the 1099-DA points to the row. With box 2 checked and no adjustment, the recipient copy says “you may be able to report your transaction directly on Schedule D (Form 1040).”
Futures on digital assets go on Form 1099-B
For regulated futures contracts and Section 1256 options on digital assets, which the instructions call dual classification assets, they say to report on Form 1099-B on an aggregate basis. That is the box 8 to 11 path described on the Form 6781 page.
For people who file event contracts on the standard capital route, with no Form 1099-B or 1099-DA, the rows go in box C or F. For people who file under Section 1256, they go on Form 6781. The routes are compared on one year in how prediction markets are taxed.
Other forms
Which forms go with Form 1099-DA?
The venue’s statement feeds Form 8949, and Schedule D takes its totals.
For a digital asset sale reported on a 1099-DA, the chain is:
- the venue’s Form 1099-DA
- Form 8949, boxes G to L
- Schedule D
- Form 1040, with its digital asset question
A Section 1256 contract is on a Form 1099-B and Form 6781 instead. The venue pages for Kalshi, Coinbase, Robinhood and Polymarket list what each sends. The capital gains guide covers Form 8949 for event contracts.
Realize builds Form 8949 and Form 6781 from fills, for the 2026 filing season. It reads no Form 1099-DA and builds no rows for crypto sales.
Questions
Form 1099-DA questions.
Is Form 1099-DA the same as Form 1099-B?
No. A broker reports digital asset sales on Form 1099-DA. Securities, options and futures go on Form 1099-B, and Section 1256 contracts on digital assets are reported there in aggregate.
What does Kalshi say its Form 1099-DA covers?
As of October 28, 2026, Kalshi’s help center lists a 1099-DA that “contains digital asset transaction reporting from ZeroHash,” for users who hit IRS reporting thresholds. The article does not say it reports event contract profit or loss.
Why is cost basis blank on a 2025 Form 1099-DA?
Brokers were not required to report basis for 2025 sales. From 2026, basis is required for covered assets, and a broker can leave it blank for a noncovered asset by checking box 9.
Do event contracts go on Form 1099-DA?
The instructions never name event contracts, and none of the venues checked describes its 1099-DA as reporting contract results.
Guides6 pages
More on the forms venues send.
Each venue’s forms, why most send no 1099 for contract trades, and how the common filing routes compare.
- What Kalshi’s forms say The four forms Kalshi lists, their thresholds and the Documents page.
- What Coinbase’s tax pages say about prediction markets The four forms Coinbase lists and what its Form 1099-DA page covers.
- What Robinhood sends for event contracts Its Help Center on 1099s and the annual event contracts statement.
- What Polymarket’s tax forms say Polymarket US and polymarket.com, kept apart.
- Why don’t prediction markets send 1099s? What each venue sends, and what the IRS sees.
- How are prediction markets taxed? The three common ways people file, side by side on one year.
Other forms4 pages
Other forms on the same return.
The Section 1256 form, the disclosure statement, the carryback application, and every form by venue.
- Form 6781, Section 1256 contracts The parts and boxes, the 60/40 split and the year-end mark.
- Form 8275, the disclosure statement What the form discloses, and what it does for the accuracy penalty.
- Form 1045 for a net Section 1256 loss The quick refund application for a carried-back Section 1256 loss.
- Every tax form, by venue Which forms each venue sends, and the IRS forms a year lands on.
Sources18 documents
Where each Form 1099-DA fact comes from.
Every figure above links to one of these, read on the date shown.
- Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2026) IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2025) IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- Form 1099-DA (2026), with the instructions for the recipient IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- About Form 1099-DA, Digital Asset Proceeds From Broker Transactions IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- Form 8949 (2025) IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- Instructions for Form 8949 (2025), Digital Assets IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- Publication 1099, General Instructions for Certain Information Returns IRS · Checked October 28, 2026
- T.D. 10000, Gross Proceeds and Basis Reporting by Brokers (89 FR 56480, July 9, 2024) Federal Register · Checked October 28, 2026
- Kalshi Help Center: What tax documentation does Kalshi provide? Kalshi · Checked October 28, 2026
- Kalshi Help Center: Crypto deposits Kalshi · Checked October 28, 2026
- Coinbase Help: Form 1099-DA Coinbase · Checked October 25, 2026
- Coinbase Help: IRS Form 1099-B Coinbase · Checked October 25, 2026
- Coinbase Help: Prediction markets, Introduction Coinbase · Checked October 25, 2026
- Robinhood Support: Event contracts taxes and statements Robinhood · Checked October 28, 2026
- Polymarket US Individual Participant and Clearing Member Agreement (August 6, 2026) Polymarket US · Checked October 28, 2026
- Polymarket US docs: What is Polymarket US? Polymarket US · Checked October 28, 2026
- Polymarket docs: Positions and tokens Polymarket · Checked October 28, 2026
- Polymarket Help Center Polymarket · Checked October 28, 2026
Get your tax forms.
Connect your venues read-only. Realize builds Form 8949 and Form 6781 from your fills, for the 2026 filing season.