Crypto Tax Bill Clears House Panel With $10 Fee Relief
The House Ways and Means Committee has approved legislation that would eliminate a separate gain-or-loss calculation when crypto is used to pay qualifying fees of $10 or less.
Key Takeaways
- The committee approved H.R. 10357 by 38 – 5.
- Relief covers qualifying fees of $10 or less.
- Underlying transactions can still generate taxable gains.
- Some professional and high-volume activity is excluded.
- Fee relief would begin in 2028.
A 38 – 5 vote sends the bill to the full House
The House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 10357 by a vote of 38–5, with five Democrats voting against it, according to Bloomberg Government. The vote allows the legislation to move to the full House, although House leaders have not announced when it will receive a floor vote.
The vote came one day after the Senate failed to advance the broader Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. Although the measures address different parts of crypto policy, their contrasting outcomes suggest that narrower tax provisions may currently have a clearer route through Congress than comprehensive market legislation.
The $10 rule removes a gain-or-loss calculation
Using cryptocurrency to pay a blockchain fee can count as disposing of that asset under current federal tax treatment. A taxpayer may therefore need to compare the asset’s value when it was acquired with its value when it was used, even when the resulting gain or loss amounts to only a few cents.
The committee’s proposed substitute would remove that calculation when digital assets are used to pay qualifying network or transaction fees and the aggregate fee does not exceed $10.
Network and transaction fees follow different rules
The bill separates network fees from transaction fees. A qualifying network fee is paid for validating or processing one or more transfers on a blockchain. The total fee associated with the transfer or group of transfers must not exceed $10.
A qualifying transaction fee includes brokerage, trading, liquidity and similar charges connected to buying or selling digital assets. For this category, the asset used to pay the fee generally must be the same type as the asset involved in the underlying transaction.
The threshold applies to the aggregate fee. Dividing one charge into several smaller payments would not create a separate $10 allowance for each part.
The bill would also require an adjustment to tax basis or allowable deductions. This is intended to prevent taxpayers from excluding a gain or loss on the fee and then claiming the same amount again through their tax basis or a deduction.
Who would not qualify for the fee exception?
The exception would not apply equally to every taxpayer or transaction. The proposed exclusions cover fees connected to several professional or high-volume activities, including:
- Activity conducted by a digital-asset trader, broker or dealer.
- Blockchain validation, transaction batching or similar businesses.
- Certain taxpayers who completed more than 5,000 digital-asset transfers during the previous year.
- Assets already covered by specified mark-to-market tax rules.
The Treasury Department would be authorized to issue rules preventing improper use of the exception. That authority could be used to stop taxpayers from dividing one fee or transaction into smaller parts solely to remain below the $10 threshold.
The bill also covers wash sales and digital-asset lending
H.R. 10357 extends beyond small transaction fees. Other provisions address how tax rules would apply to losses on certain traded digital assets and to assets transferred through qualifying lending arrangements.
The bill would extend wash-sale and constructive-sale rules to certain covered traded digital assets. Wash-sale rules prevent an investor from claiming a tax loss after selling an asset and quickly repurchasing the same or a substantially identical asset. The proposed language would not necessarily cover every cryptocurrency; its reach would depend on whether the asset and transaction fall within the bill’s definitions.
A qualifying digital-asset loan could avoid being treated as an immediate sale. The exception would apply only when the borrower is required to return equivalent digital assets and the arrangement meets the bill’s other conditions.
The fee change would not begin until 2028
If Congress enacts the legislation, the small-fee exception would apply to qualifying disposals made after December 31, 2027. Taxpayers would therefore continue using the current treatment throughout 2027.
That starting date applies specifically to the small-fee exception. It should not be assumed that every provision in the wider package would take effect at the same time.
The bill still faces the congressional calendar
H.R. 10357 still requires passage by the full House and Senate, followed by the president’s signature. Its immediate obstacle is timing: the House removed six September voting days and is scheduled to begin its next voting period on November 12, leaving limited time for a floor vote before the midterm recess.
The bill can still receive House consideration during a post-election session. If Congress does not enact it before the current Congress ends, however, the proposal would need to be introduced again in the next Congress.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial or investment advice. H.R. 10357 has advanced from committee but has not become law.
Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.
