US House Ways and Means Committee sets Sept. 16 markup for crypto tax rules

The US House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a September 16 markup on a package of digital asset tax legislation, moving a set of crypto-focused tax bills closer to a full House floor vote. The markup will address two of the thorniest issues in crypto taxation: when miners and stakers owe taxes on newly created tokens, and whether wash-sale rules that already apply to stocks should cover digital assets too.

Two key bills are driving the markup. The first is the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, designated H.R. 9175, which would allow miners and stakers to defer recognizing income on newly created tokens until those tokens are actually sold. Under current interpretations, a miner who validates a block and receives tokens could owe income tax at the moment those tokens land in their wallet, even if they never sell. The bill would shift that taxable event to the point of disposition, at which point the income would be treated as ordinary income.

The second bill, the Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act (H.R. 9172), takes a different approach. It would extend wash-sale and constructive-sale rules to actively traded digital assets. In traditional markets, wash-sale rules prevent investors from selling a security at a loss, claiming the tax deduction, and then immediately buying the same security back. Crypto traders have been exploiting this gap for years, harvesting tax losses on Bitcoin or Ethereum and repurchasing the same asset minutes later with no penalty.