Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Digital Asset Broker Reporting Provisions

Section 80603 was designed to place certain digital asset transactions into the existing federal information-reporting system for brokers. Rather than creating a standalone crypto tax regime, the provision expanded tax reporting infrastructure by adding digital assets to selected broker and transfer-reporting rules. The statutory definition of broker includes any person who, for consideration, is responsible for regularly providing a service that effectuates transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person.

The statute also defines a digital asset, unless Treasury provides otherwise, as a digital representation of value recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or similar technology. This definition is central to the section’s broker-reporting rules and the separate amendment treating digital assets as cash for purposes of section 6050I.

The core broker-reporting change is in section 6045. Digital assets were added to the list of specified securities for basis-reporting purposes, and Treasury and the IRS issued final regulations requiring covered brokers to file information returns and furnish payee statements for certain digital asset sales and exchanges. IRS guidance states that Form 1099-DA reporting begins with transactions on or after January 1, 2025, with gross proceeds reporting first and basis reporting for certain transactions on or after January 1, 2026.

The final 2024 regulations apply mainly to brokers that take possession of digital assets being sold by customers. IRS examples include custodial digital asset trading platforms, certain hosted wallet providers, digital asset kiosks, and certain processors of digital asset payments. The same IRS guidance states that the final regulations do not include reporting requirements for commonly described decentralized or non-custodial brokers that do not take possession of the digital assets sold or exchanged.

Section 80603 also amended section 6045A. It clarified that transfer-statement reporting can apply to covered securities that are digital assets and added a reporting rule for certain transfers of digital assets from a broker-maintained account to an account or address not known to be associated with another broker.

The statute separately amended section 6050I by adding digital assets to the definition of cash for certain trade-or-business receipts reporting. However, IRS Announcement 2024-4 provides transitional guidance stating that, until Treasury and the IRS issue section 6050I regulations and related forms or instructions, digital assets are not required to be included when testing whether cash received in a transaction exceeds the $10,000 reporting threshold. Non-digital-asset cash reporting obligations remain separate.

The final custodial-broker regulations, TD 10000, were published in the Federal Register on July 9, 2024 and became effective September 9, 2024. IRS guidance summarizes the operational phase-in: gross proceeds reporting for transactions on or after January 1, 2025; basis reporting for certain transactions on or after January 1, 2026; and real-estate reporting for digital assets used in covered closings on or after January 1, 2026.

Treasury and the IRS later finalized a separate December 2024 rule for certain decentralized finance participants, TD 10021. Congress disapproved that rule under the Congressional Review Act, and the President signed the disapproval resolution as Public Law 119-5 on April 10, 2025. A July 11, 2025 Federal Register action states that the disapproved rule has no legal force or effect and that the relevant regulations were reverted.

Implementation remains active. IRS pages updated in 2026 identify Form 1099-DA as the current broker reporting form, list transition relief for penalties and backup withholding, and note additional guidance for basis identification and electronic furnishing. This profile should therefore be reviewed periodically as IRS forms, instructions, and notices continue to develop.