Twelve steps
before anyone
files

1. 01List every account, exchange and wallet you used during the year

   Including ones you opened and closed within the year, and self-custody wallets. Every address or account that held something for you belongs on this list.

2. 02Collect every Form 1099-DA and every broker statement

   Including corrected versions. For each one, note the issuer and whether the basis column is filled, blank or marked unknown.

3. 03Export the full transaction history from each platform while you still have access

   One complete calendar-year export per platform, in the platform's own format and in CSV where offered. Exports often disappear with the account.

4. 04Separate disposals from transfers between your own accounts

   Mark every movement that went from one of your accounts to another of your accounts. Those are not sales. Everything else is a candidate disposal.

5. 05Record the acquisition date and cost for each lot

   The purchase confirmation, the trade row or the receipt record that shows when the lot was acquired and what was paid. This is what establishes basis.

6. 06Record trading fees and network fees

   With the asset and amount for each. Fees are commonly described as affecting basis or proceeds, so they belong next to the transactions they came with.

7. 07Set aside staking, mining, airdrop and payment-for-work receipts as income-like items

   Date received, quantity and the fair market value at that moment, with the source of the value noted. These are commonly described differently from sales and are usually handled separately.

8. 08Flag every lot with no basis history

   Assets that arrived from a closed platform, an old wallet or a source with no record. Knowing which lots these are is the first step to dealing with them honestly.

9. 09Note the platforms that have shut down and what you still have from them

   Old emails, screenshots, statements, bankruptcy or claim correspondence. Whatever survives is evidence of basis and of what happened to the assets.

10. 10Reconcile each form against your exports

    Compare the proceeds on each 1099-DA and statement to the disposals in your exports for that platform. Differences go on a list with the reason, if you know it.

11. 11Write down the questions your records cannot answer

    A missing basis, an unclear receipt, a transfer that cannot be matched. Each open question is written out plainly.

12. 12Take those questions to a professional licensed in your state — and do not file from this list

    This page is a way of getting organized. It is not a return and not instructions for one. A CPA, enrolled agent or attorney who knows your facts is the person to decide what goes on a form.

Working through these twelve steps produces documents rather than guesses for Form 8949 and Schedule D, and an answer for any later question about a figure on a Form 1099-DA. How the forms fit together is on the forms page.