House Weighs Two Crypto Tax Bills With Markup Scheduled for Sept. 16

The House Ways and Means Committee plans to consider two crypto tax bills on Sept. 16, though the committee's public calendar had not posted a markup notice as of Sept. 14, leaving the meeting time and final bill list unconfirmed in official records.

The two bills address separate parts of the tax code. H.R. 9175, the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, introduced on June 8 by Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH), would create an optional income-deferral system for qualifying mining and staking rewards. Under the bill's default rule, a taxpayer would include a token's fair market value in ordinary income when acquiring it through mining, staking, or another qualifying validation process. Eligible taxpayers could elect to postpone recognition until the token is sold or disposed of, at which point the gain would be taxed as ordinary income.

H.R. 9172, the Applying Existing Tax Anti-Abuse Rules to Digital Assets Act, introduced by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), would extend wash-sale and constructive-sale restrictions to covered digital assets. Under current law, stocks and securities face wash-sale restrictions that disallow an immediate loss deduction when a taxpayer sells and repurchases substantially identical property within 30 days. H.R. 9172 would apply the same rule to most digital assets, while excluding qualified U.S. dollar stablecoins that meet the bill's statutory requirements.

Reports of possible stripping of mining provisions

Crypto Briefing reported on Sept. 13 that House Republicans on the committee are weighing whether to strip out the mining and staking provisions from the broader package, in part to secure bipartisan support ahead of midterm elections. Crypto.news reported that Republicans may remove the deferral or limit it to five years, but neither option appears in the introduced text, and no official amendment confirming either change had been published as of Sept. 14.

The committee held a legislative hearing on the proposals on June 9. Witnesses included representatives from Fidelity, Coinbase, and NYU Law's Tax Law Center. Democrats on the committee raised concerns during that hearing that offering a tax deferral privilege specifically for digital asset rewards could create an uneven playing field compared to traditional investments.

A coalition of crypto industry groups sent a letter on June 21 urging the committee to pass the bill without modifications, arguing that stripping the mining and staking provisions would hurt bipartisan support.

Revenue estimates

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that H.R. 9175 would reduce federal revenue by $2.956 billion between fiscal years 2026 and 2036. H.R. 9172 was scored at raising $2.074 billion over the same period.

If the markup proceeds, committee members could approve the introduced bills, reject them, or replace portions through amendments. A favorable committee vote would permit the measures to be reported to the full House, though approval would not guarantee floor consideration. Any bill passed by the House would then require Senate approval.