Does Kraken Provide Tax Documents and 1099 Forms?

Yes. Kraken does provide tax documents to eligible U.S. users. You may receive a Form 1099-MISC if your staking and rewards income totals $600 or more in a calendar year, and a Form 1099-DA reporting digital asset sales. Whether or not a form arrives, you are responsible for reporting all crypto transactions to the IRS.¹

The Two Forms Kraken Issues

Kraken issues two IRS forms.

Form 1099-MISC reports miscellaneous income from activities like staking rewards and promotional incentives. You receive it if your staking or rewards income reaches $600 or more during the tax year.² The threshold comes from federal law requiring businesses to report payments of that size to a single recipient.³

Form 1099-DA (Digital Asset Proceeds from Broker Transactions) is newer. Starting with the 2025 tax year, Kraken began reporting gross proceeds from digital asset sales on this form. For the 2026 tax year, Kraken will also report acquisition costs (cost basis), gains or losses, and holding periods for positions acquired on or after January 1, 2026.²

Kraken does not issue Form 1099-B or Form 1099-INT. All digital asset sale reporting flows through 1099-DA going forward.

Who Actually Gets a Form

Not every Kraken user receives a tax form. Several conditions apply:

The account must belong to a U.S. person.
You must have completed Kraken’s identity verification, which requires your full name, date of birth, address, a valid government ID, and your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number.⁴
For a 1099-MISC, staking or rewards income must total $600 or more for the year.³
For a 1099-DA, federal regulations require brokers to report gross proceeds on any digital asset sale, regardless of dollar amount.⁵

If your staking income falls under $600 and you made no sales, you may not receive any form at all. That does not reduce your obligation to report every taxable crypto transaction.¹

What Changes on the 1099-DA in 2026

The IRS phased in 1099-DA reporting over two years:⁵

2025 transactions: brokers report gross proceeds only.
2026 transactions: brokers also report cost basis, holding period, and whether gains or losses are short-term or long-term, but only for assets acquired on or after January 1, 2026.

The cutoff matters. Assets you bought before 2026, or moved onto Kraken from another exchange or wallet, are treated as “noncovered securities.” Kraken is not required to report basis for those.⁶ If Kraken does not have your original purchase information, it may treat the asset as acquired on the transfer date, which can overstate your gains. Your own records fill that gap.

The regulations apply to custodial brokers holding your digital assets. They do not cover decentralized or non-custodial platforms. Certain transaction types, including wrapping, unwrapping, liquidity provider transactions, and digital asset lending, are temporarily exempt from 1099-DA reporting until the IRS issues further guidance.⁵

Where to Find Your Tax Documents

Tax forms live in Kraken’s account dashboard, in the tax information section under account settings. Forms are generally available by January 31 following the end of the tax year. Copies of any 1099-MISC or 1099-DA go to the IRS as well, so the figures on your return should match what the exchange filed.

Even without a form, you can export your full transaction history. Kraken offers a ledger export in CSV format covering trades, deposits, withdrawals, and staking activity. That raw data is what you or your tax software will use to calculate gains and losses.

Download your records while you have access. Kraken keeps transaction records for at least five years after the business relationship ends, in line with anti-money laundering rules.⁷ The IRS recommends keeping your own copies of anything that supports positions on your return.¹

Using the Forms on Your Tax Return

The Digital Asset Question

Every federal return asks a yes-or-no question about digital assets. It covers whether, at any time during the year, you received digital assets as a reward, award, or payment, or sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of one.⁸ The question appears on Forms 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-NR, and several other return types.⁹ Check “Yes” if you earned staking rewards, sold any crypto, or received digital assets for goods or services, even if no form arrived. The check box itself does not add tax; it flags that activity is reported elsewhere on the return.

Form 8949 and Schedule D

Sales, exchanges, and other dispositions of digital assets go on Form 8949, with totals flowing to Schedule D. Each transaction requires the acquisition date, sale date, proceeds, cost basis, and resulting gain or loss. For 2026, if Kraken reports basis on Form 1099-DA and no adjustments are needed, you may be able to enter totals directly on Schedule D without listing each transaction on Form 8949.¹⁰ For assets where the broker did not report basis, such as pre-2026 holdings or transfers in, you fill out Form 8949 from your own records.

Digital assets are treated as property. Short-term gains (held one year or less) are taxed at ordinary income rates; long-term gains qualify for lower capital gains rates. Staking rewards and other crypto income are taxed as ordinary income in the year received.¹

Cost Basis Methods

Kraken’s Tax Center lets you choose how basis is calculated when you sell:¹¹ FIFO (first-in, first-out) is the default. LIFO sells the most recently acquired assets first. HIFO sells the highest-cost lots first, which tends to minimize reported gains. LOFO sells the lowest-cost lots first. Apply your chosen method consistently; switching mid-year creates complications.

Backup Withholding

If you fail to provide a valid SSN or TIN, or the information you provide does not match IRS records, Kraken may be required to withhold 24% of your transaction proceeds and send it to the IRS.¹² To avoid it, confirm that your account profile carries a valid SSN or TIN matching your IRS records. Kraken’s electronic verification serves the same function as filing a paper Form W-9.¹³ Any amount withheld can be claimed as a credit on your return.

What Happens If You Don’t Report

The IRS warns that unreported income from any source, crypto included, can lead to accrued interest and penalties.⁹

The accuracy-related penalty is 20% of underpaid tax where the IRS finds negligence or substantial understatement. For individuals, a substantial understatement exists when you understate your tax by the greater of 10% of the tax due or $5,000.¹⁴ Interest on the unpaid balance runs from the original due date.

Because Kraken now files 1099-DA data with the IRS, the agency can compare what you reported against what the exchange reported. Gaps invite an inquiry. Keeping your own records, especially for pre-2026 assets and anything transferred in from another platform, is the practical way to keep your return and Kraken’s filings aligned.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Digital Assets
2
Kraken. Tax Forms: Frequently Asked Questions
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 6041 – Information at Source
4
Kraken. Verification Level Requirements
5
Internal Revenue Service. Final Regulations and Related IRS Guidance for Reporting by Brokers on Sales and Exchanges of Digital Assets
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2025)
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Kraken. Privacy Notice
8
Internal Revenue Service. Determine How to Answer the Digital Asset Question
9
Internal Revenue Service. Taxpayers Need to Report Crypto, Other Digital Asset Transactions on Their Tax Return
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8949 (2025)
11
Kraken. Understanding Tax Lot Relief Methods in the Tax Center
12
Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding
13
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9
14
Internal Revenue Service. Accuracy-Related Penalty