The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will review the Digital Assets Tax Certainty Act on September 16th local time. This proposal aims to provide clearer rules for the tax treatment of crypto assets, covering scenarios such as on-chain fees, stablecoins, staking, mining, lending, and trading.

10 US dollars in handling fees are proposed to be exempt from taxation.

The bill proposes to establish a small exemption. Network fees or transaction handling charges that meet certain criteria, such as those not exceeding $10 in amount, may no longer be separately included in the calculation of capital gains or losses.

According to current practices, when users pay for on-chain fees with encrypted assets, it may be considered a taxable disposition, as the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regards digital assets as property. If the proposal is approved, the gains or losses associated with such small fees could be disregarded.

Stablecoins and staking income to be included in the bill

The proposal also intends to stipulate that eligible US dollar-pegged stablecoins can be taxed based on their redemption value when purchased at a price close to that redemption value. Profits from mining and staking, on the other hand, will be taxed as ordinary income.

At the same time, some investment trusts can participate in pledging when certain conditions are met, without thereby losing their original tax status. This means that some investment instruments holding digital assets may be able to increase their sources of income in the future, provided that they comply with regulations.

The wash trading rules are extended to digital assets.

The bill also plans to extend the wash trading rules to digital assets and exclude eligible crypto lending from being considered as "sales." The Treasury Department will also establish a procedure that will allow eligible taxpayers to modify their past tax returns and pay back taxes, interest, and fines.

Previously, some industry organizations supported a proposal to defer the recognition of income from newly generated mining and staking rewards, but this content is not included in the current version. Next, the bill still needs to be approved by the committee, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the President. Some minor exemptions and simplified accounting arrangements are scheduled to take effect in 2028.