U.S. House weighs two crypto tax bills on Sept. 16

House tax writers have reportedly scheduled a Sept. 16 review of two bills that could change how U.S. miners, stakers and traders calculate federal taxes.

The House Ways and Means Committee plans to consider H.R. 9175 and H.R. 9172 on Wednesday. The committee’s public calendar had not posted a markup notice as of Sept. 14, leaving the meeting time and final bill list unconfirmed in official records.

The introduced bills address separate parts of the tax code. H.R. 9175 would create an optional income-deferral system for qualifying mining and staking rewards. H.R. 9172 would apply existing wash-sale and constructive-sale restrictions to covered digital assets.

A committee markup would allow lawmakers to debate, amend and vote on the legislation. Reports that Republicans may remove the mining deferral or limit it to five years have not been confirmed through a published committee amendment or substitute text.

Reported crypto tax markup remains off the calendar

Representatives Mike Carey and Jodey Arrington introduced the two bills on June 8. The Congressional Record confirms that both measures were referred to the Ways and Means Committee.

One day later, the committee held a legislative hearing covering those proposals and several other digital-asset tax measures. Witnesses included representatives from Fidelity, Coinbase and Coin Center, along with an NYU Tax Law Center official.

Committee Chairman Jason Smith presented the package as an attempt to give taxpayers clearer rules for digital assets. His statement argued that the existing framework had not kept pace with new financial technology. Such comments represent the committee majority’s policy position.

No official Sept. 16 notice appeared on the committee’s full committee page by Monday morning. Without a notice, the publicly available record does not confirm which measures will receive votes or what amendments members may offer.

The lack of a posted notice does not prove that the meeting will be canceled. It means the reported schedule remains provisional until the committee releases an agenda or another official announcement.

Mining tax bill offers an elective deferral

The Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, H.R. 9175, would establish two possible tax treatments for qualifying newly created tokens.

Under the bill’s default rule, a taxpayer would include the token’s fair market value in ordinary income when acquiring it through mining, staking or another qualifying validation process. The recognized amount would become the taxpayer’s basis in the asset.

Eligible taxpayers could elect to postpone recognition for qualifying tokens received during the elected tax year. The election would continue in later years unless the taxpayer obtained Treasury approval to revoke it.

When an elected token was sold or otherwise disposed of, the taxpayer would recognize the deferred gain. The bill classifies that gain as arising from property that is not a capital asset, producing ordinary tax treatment under the proposed language. Certain acquisition costs would be capitalized while the election remained effective.

Current IRS guidance generally treats mining and staking rewards as ordinary income when taxpayers gain control of them. As crypto.news explained in its guide to IRS crypto tax rules in 2026, later disposals can generate a separate capital gain or loss based on the asset’s changed value.

H.R. 9175 would not make every token or taxpayer eligible. The introduced text contains restrictions involving controlled foreign corporations, passive foreign investment companies and several foreign ownership structures. It contains sourcing rules based partly on a taxpayer’s residence when the asset is acquired or disposed of.

Reports indicate that Republican lawmakers have discussed removing the deferral election or allowing it for only five years. Neither option appears in the introduced text, and no official amendment confirming either change had been published as of Sept. 14.

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the introduced bill would reduce federal revenue by $2.956 billion between fiscal years 2026 and 2036.

Wash-sale bill targets rapid crypto repurchases

The Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act, H.R. 9172, would expand two rules currently associated mainly with stocks and securities. Section 1091 of the tax code generally disallows an immediate loss deduction when a taxpayer sells stock or securities and acquires substantially identical property within 30 days before or after the sale. The disallowed loss normally adjusts the basis of the replacement property instead of disappearing permanently.

H.R. 9172 would replace references to “stock or securities” with a new category of “specified assets.” Covered property would include most digital assets and certain contracts or options connected to them. Tokenized or wrapped products could qualify as substantially identical to economically equivalent underlying assets. The Treasury Department would receive regulatory authority covering contracts and other arrangements linked to specified assets.

Qualified U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins would be excluded if they met the bill’s statutory requirements. The definition relies on permitted payment stablecoin issuers recognized under federal law. A dollar stablecoin may not qualify for the exclusion when the taxpayer uses another functional currency.

Certain tokens received through mining, staking or comparable validation activity receive a narrower exception. The introduced language addresses particular acquisitions within the wash-sale calculation; it does not remove all mined or staked tokens from every part of the bill.

The measure would separately extend constructive-sale rules under Section 1259 to digital assets. Existing constructive-sale rules can require recognition when transactions offset an appreciated position so completely that the taxpayer has effectively removed the economic exposure without formally selling the asset.

Crypto.news has previously reported that the statutory wash-sale rule does not currently cover cryptocurrency, allowing traders to sell a token at a loss and repurchase it without the same restriction that applies to covered securities.

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that H.R. 9172 would raise $2.074 billion over fiscal years 2026 through 2036. Earlier Treasury estimates cited for digital-asset wash-sale legislation covered different proposals and should not be treated as the official score for H.R. 9172.

Committee passage would begin another legislative stage

If the reported markup proceeds, committee members could approve the introduced bills, reject them or replace portions through amendments. The five-year mining deferral mentioned in press reports would require a formal amendment before becoming part of the legislation.

A favorable committee vote would permit the measures to be reported to the full House. Approval would not guarantee floor consideration because House leaders control the schedule, and no floor date has been announced. Any bill passed by the House would then require Senate approval. Differences between House and Senate versions would need to be resolved before identical legislation could reach the president.

The committee could combine the measures with other tax legislation during markup or at a later stage. Congress often moves tax provisions through larger packages, but no official document currently shows that either crypto proposal will be attached to another bill.

However, Until new committee text appears, the June versions remain the only verified legislative language. The committee had not published a chairman’s amendment, substitute text, meeting time or voting agenda for the reported Sept. 16 markup as of Sept. 14.

Source: cryptonews.net