Crypto tax bill gets a bipartisan push in the House. House Ways and Means Committee members are looking for bipartisan agreement on how to tax digital assets (paywall), though a bill is more likely to gain momentum after the midterm elections. Reps. Max Miller (R-OH) and Steven Horsford (D-NV) have been working on draft legislation that would apply wash sale rules to digital assets, clarify rules for charitable contributions and lending agreements, and create a deemed-basis rule for regulated stablecoins.
Meanwhile, Senate panel advances crypto market bill. The Senate Banking Committee approved a digital asset market structure bill Thursday. The measure would define most digital assets as digital commodities, set rules for decentralized finance and stablecoin yield, and direct the SEC and CFTC to write rules for the market.
California budget plan targets business credits and software sales. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposed capping state business tax credit use and taxing digital software sales (paywall) as part of his revised fiscal 2027 budget. Starting in tax year 2027, some existing business tax credits would be limited to the greater of $5 million per year or 50 percent of their tax liability, raising an estimated $850 million in fiscal year 2027 and $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2028. The budget would also apply sales and use tax to digital sales of prewritten software and software-as-a-service transactions, raising an estimated $450 million in fiscal year 2027 and $900 million by fiscal year 2030. Newsom is also proposing reducing California’s $800 minimum tax on some new passthrough entities to $400 for three years, benefiting about 250,000 businesses annually
Itemized: Fact of the Week. Under current law, if you own Bitcoin or other crypto assets, you may owe taxes. The IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, meaning sales or exchanges can create taxable capital gains or deductible losses. That rule applies even when someone uses crypto like cash to buy goods or services, because the taxpayer must know the token’s value when acquired and when used. Crypto owners remain responsible for calculating gains and losses unless Congress changes the rules to require crypto firms to assist taxpayers.
Subscribe to the Tax Policy Center’s Daily Deduction for weekday morning tax news and research. For more from TPC: Visit the Briefing Book (tax issue explainers), Fiscal Facts (quick primers), and TaxVox (researcher commentary). Track tariff developments and analysis with TPC’s Tariff Tracker. Email Renu Zaretsky with tips on research or tax news.
