House advances crypto tax bill that ties digital assets to traditional tax rules

The House Ways and Means Committee moved forward a bill on tax for digital assets on Wednesday (September 16), which was designed to minimize the tax liability for small transactions involving cryptocurrencies, while subjecting digital assets to numerous anti-abuse regulations already used for traditional financial instruments. With a vote of 38-5, the committee passed the H.R. 10357 bill, which is known as the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act and will now be reviewed by the full House, making it the first federal tax framework for cryptocurrencies to get through a congressional committee.

For crypto holders, traders, miners, and businesses, the piece of legislation offers more than just tax relief. It cuts down on the friction in terms of routine transactions, while also extending the wash-sale, constructive-sale, and certain other traditional regulations to digital assets. This development happened just a day after the Senate was unable to pass the Clarity Act.

The 38-5 vote and what it sends forward

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith claimed that the markup is “a historic day for this Committee” and “the first-ever tax framework for digital assets” after over a year of bipartisan collaboration.