How to Report Crypto Losses on Your Taxes
If you sold crypto at a loss in 2025, you can report crypto losses on your federal tax return to reduce what you owe. Many taxpayers skip this step because they assume losses don't matter. That's a costly mistake. Properly reported crypto losses can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars at tax time.
Quick Answer
You report crypto losses on IRS Form 8949 and Schedule D of your federal tax return. Capital losses first offset capital gains dollar-for-dollar. If your losses exceed your gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 per year against ordinary income like wages or salary. Any remaining losses carry forward to future tax years indefinitely.
Why You Should Report Crypto Losses
Reporting losses isn't just good recordkeeping. It's a real tax savings strategy. Here's why it matters:
- Offset gains. If you made $10,000 selling one coin and lost $8,000 on another, you only pay tax on the $2,000 net gain.
- Reduce ordinary income. If your losses exceed your gains, you can deduct up to $3,000 against wages, freelance income, or other earnings.
- Build a loss bank. Unused losses carry forward year after year, ready to offset future gains whenever you need them.
Many crypto investors had significant losses during the 2022 bear market and may still be carrying those forward today. If you haven't been claiming them, you could be overpaying on your taxes right now.
For a broader look at reducing your tax burden through strategic selling, see our guide on crypto tax-loss harvesting.
What Counts as a Realized Loss
Not every drop in your portfolio counts as a loss for tax purposes. The IRS only cares about realized losses, which means you actually disposed of the asset. A realized loss happens when you:
- Sell crypto for less than you paid. You bought ETH at $3,000 and sold it at $1,800.
- Trade one crypto for another at a loss. You swapped BTC for SOL when your BTC was worth less than your cost basis.
- Use crypto to buy goods or services when the fair market value is below your cost basis.
Simply holding a coin that dropped in value does not create a deductible loss. You must sell, trade, or otherwise dispose of it first.
Example: You bought 2 ETH for $6,000 total in January 2025. In November 2025, you sold both for $3,400. Your realized loss is $2,600. That's the number you report on your tax return.
How to Report Crypto Losses Step by Step
Reporting cryptocurrency losses on your tax return involves two forms. Here's the process:
Step 1: Gather Your Records
Before you fill out anything, collect the following for each transaction:
- Date you acquired the crypto
- Date you sold or disposed of it
- Cost basis (what you paid, including fees)
- Proceeds (what you received)
Your exchange may provide a 1099-DA or transaction history. If you used multiple wallets or exchanges, you'll need to consolidate records across all of them.
Step 2: Complete Form 8949
Form 8949 is where you list each individual crypto transaction. You'll need to separate your transactions into two categories:
- Part I: Short-term (held one year or less)
- Part II: Long-term (held more than one year)
For each transaction, enter the asset description (e.g., "2 ETH"), dates acquired and sold, proceeds, cost basis, and the resulting gain or loss.
For a detailed walkthrough of every box on this form, check out our Form 8949 guide.
Step 3: Transfer Totals to Schedule D
After completing Form 8949, transfer your totals to Schedule D (Form 1040). Schedule D is where short-term and long-term results get combined, netted against each other, and where the $3,000 ordinary income deduction is calculated.
Step 4: File with Your 1040
Schedule D attaches to your standard Form 1040. If you use tax software, it will handle the attachment automatically once you've entered your crypto transactions.
The $3,000 Deduction Against Ordinary Income
This is one of the most valuable parts of reporting crypto losses. Here's how it works:
If your total capital losses for the year exceed your total capital gains, you have a net capital loss. The IRS lets you deduct up to $3,000 of that net loss ($1,500 if married filing separately) against ordinary income like your salary, business income, or interest.
Example: You had $1,000 in crypto gains and $9,000 in crypto losses in 2025. Your net capital loss is $8,000. You deduct $3,000 against your ordinary income on your 2025 return. The remaining $5,000 carries forward to 2026.
This $3,000 deduction directly reduces your taxable income, which means it saves you money at your marginal tax rate. If you're in the 24% bracket, that's $720 back in your pocket each year just from this deduction.
Carrying Losses Forward to Future Years
There's no time limit on carrying forward unused capital losses. If you had a catastrophic year and racked up $50,000 in net crypto losses, you can carry that forward for as long as it takes to use them up.
Each year, the process repeats:
- Apply carried-forward losses against any capital gains first.
- Deduct up to $3,000 of remaining net losses against ordinary income.
- Carry any leftover to the next year.
Example: You have a $20,000 capital loss carryforward from 2025. In 2026, you realize $7,000 in crypto gains. You use $7,000 of your carryforward to offset those gains (paying zero capital gains tax), deduct another $3,000 against ordinary income, and carry the remaining $10,000 into 2027.
You track your carryforward on the Capital Loss Carryover Worksheet in the Schedule D instructions. Keep this worksheet with your tax records every year.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Losses and Netting Rules
The IRS treats short-term and long-term transactions separately before combining them. Understanding the netting order matters because short-term and long-term gains are taxed at different rates.
Here's how the netting works:
- Net short-term gains and losses together. This gives you a net short-term result.
- Net long-term gains and losses together. This gives you a net long-term result.
- Combine the two results. If one is a gain and the other is a loss, they offset each other.
Why does this matter? Short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income (up to 37%), while long-term gains get preferential rates (0%, 15%, or 20%). A short-term loss that offsets a short-term gain saves you more in taxes than a long-term loss offsetting a long-term gain, depending on your bracket.
Example: You have $5,000 in short-term losses and $5,000 in long-term gains. After netting, your overall result is $0. But you've effectively used losses that would have offset income taxed at up to 37% to cancel out gains that would have been taxed at only 15%. The IRS requires this netting order, so you can't choose which gains your losses offset.
For the full picture on how crypto taxation works, read our complete guide to crypto taxes.
Worthless or Abandoned Crypto
Some tokens go to zero. Rug pulls, failed projects, and dead coins are a reality in crypto. The IRS allows you to claim a loss on worthless assets, but the rules are specific.
Worthless securities can be treated as if sold on the last day of the tax year for $0 proceeds. To claim this:
- The crypto must be truly worthless with no market value.
- You should document why (e.g., the project shut down, the token was delisted from all exchanges, the contract was abandoned).
If the token still trades at a fraction of a cent, it technically isn't worthless. In that case, you may need to actually sell or swap it to realize the loss. Some investors sell dust tokens for minimal amounts specifically to lock in the deduction.
Abandonment is another option. You can abandon cryptocurrency by sending it to a burn address or a permanently inaccessible wallet. Document the transaction hash and your intent to abandon.
Exchange Bankruptcies and Theft Losses
The collapses of FTX, Celsius, Voyager, and BlockFi left millions of users with frozen or lost funds. Here's the current tax treatment:
Exchange Bankruptcies
If your crypto was locked in a bankrupt exchange, you generally cannot claim a loss until the bankruptcy proceedings conclude and you know the final recovery amount. At that point:
- Your loss equals your cost basis minus whatever you recovered.
- Report it on Form 8949 in the year the loss becomes final.
- Some taxpayers may qualify to claim a theft loss under Section 165, though IRS guidance on this is limited for crypto.
For FTX specifically, distributions began in 2024 and continued into 2025. If you received a partial recovery, your deductible loss is the difference between your original cost basis and the amount recovered.
Theft and Scam Losses
After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, personal theft losses are only deductible if they result from a federally declared disaster. This means most crypto scam and hack losses for individual investors are not deductible under current law (through 2025). However, some tax professionals argue that certain exchange collapses qualify as investment theft losses under Section 165(c)(2) rather than personal theft losses. Consult a tax professional for your specific situation.
Common Mistakes When Reporting Crypto Losses
Avoid these errors when claiming cryptocurrency losses on your tax return:
1. Forgetting to report losses at all. Even if you owe nothing, failing to report creates problems. The IRS receives data from exchanges. Unreported transactions can trigger notices.
2. Using the wrong cost basis. If you bought the same coin at different prices over time, the cost basis method you choose (FIFO, LIFO, HIFO) changes your gain or loss amount. Pick a consistent method and stick with it.
3. Not separating short-term from long-term. Mixing holding periods on Form 8949 will result in incorrect tax calculations.
4. Watch for potential wash sale rule changes. As of the 2025 tax year, the wash sale rule does NOT apply to cryptocurrency. However, legislation has been proposed to extend it to crypto, so this could change in future tax years. If the rule is eventually extended, selling at a loss and buying the same or substantially identical cryptocurrency within 30 days before or after the sale would disallow the loss.
5. Double-counting across exchanges. If you transferred crypto between exchanges, that's not a taxable event. Make sure transfers aren't showing up as sales in your records.
6. Missing the carryforward. If you claimed losses in a prior year but forgot to carry the remainder forward, you're leaving money on the table. Review prior-year Schedule D worksheets.
For a complete walkthrough of the filing process, see our guide on how to file crypto taxes.