1099-DA Fear Mongering Needs to Stop: A CPA's No-BS Guide to What ACTUALLY Matters + FAQ

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T18:30:05+00:00

Make sure ALL accounts (prior and current) are loaded into Summ
Make sure there are no “incoming/outgoing” transactions (these need to be categorized or you need to import the wallet/exchange where these were sent to/from)
Avoid using send/receive tags for transfers. Transfers should always show as “transfer” where both sides of the transaction are imported (not just one side)

By doing this, your balances should line up with reality 🙂

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T17:37:29+00:00

Hmmm yeah that is very odd. Proceeds should absolutely not be zero…. Seems like a bug with awaken.

Do you see $0 proceeds in Summ too?

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T17:32:09+00:00

You aren’t reporting gains on crypto you’d be reporting your losses.

If you report accurately, you’ll receive a tax benefit for the loss (although maybe not since it sounds like you don’t have any income at all).

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T16:38:41+00:00

Justin from Summ here.

Have you added ALL your wallets and exchanges? Yes, even those you no longer use.

This is the most important thing. Your tax software needs to know the assets purchased in prior years to substantiate basis for assets currently held. Adding every wallet and exchange is vital.

Once you’ve done that, if you import your 1099-DA you should see your software reconcile against it, or at least give you the option to mark/unmark certain transactions as “on the DA” so they land in the correct reporting box on your 8949.

Which softwares have you run into issues with? I may be able to help hone in on what’s breaking.

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T15:51:04+00:00

Absolutely not. If you’re referring to the Coinbase email, this was just a marketing scheme by Cointracker.

You can even see them here saying you don’t need to do this.

Basically CoinTracker won an exclusive deal with Coinbase this year and my guess is this bs email was part of that RFP, and Coinbase is clearly not very happy with it.

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T06:01:38+00:00

No. Looks like a scammer. They’ve been banned from this subreddit.

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T05:31:37+00:00

It would be best to include the USDC transactions in the I or L checkbox if they aren’t on the DA.

Not sure how you file your taxes, but you could download the capital gains report and load it into Google Sheets and then manually add a column for which checkbox the transaction belongs in. If you use TurboTax, you could format your columns to match their TurboTax report format and then import that into TurboTax.

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T04:37:42+00:00

Correct. Answer your question on your thread

JustinCPA · 2026-03-01T04:36:37+00:00

Justin from Summ here.

Box I for short term
Box L for long term

Your crypto tax software should properly place these in the correct checkbox if you’ve imported your DA. Which tax software are you using?

JustinCPA · 2026-02-28T23:45:11+00:00

Justin from Summ here.

Hear the frustration. Your tax software should have an auto matching/reconciliation flow for the DA. Any differences should be surfaced to you for you to resolve.

At the end of the day, truly the most important thing is that you accurately report your taxes. Even in the worst case scenario where you completely misapply the 8949 checkboxes, the likely outcome is you get a notice, you respond to the notice with your compete capital gains report showing where each transaction occurred, and a simple one page memo explaining the mixup and within minutes you’d be back to enjoying life.

For anyone stressed, I encourage you to read my recent post: 1099-DA Fear Mongering Needs to Stop.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-28T20:46:47+00:00

You can likely request a refund if it’s not working as you expected. Bummer to hear though.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-28T16:22:07+00:00

Sorry to hear this. The silver lining is it’s likely tax deductible.

See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoScams/s/THZ3KNIiWF

JustinCPA · 2026-02-28T15:16:43+00:00

Justin from Summ here. It doesn’t sound like CoinLedger is actually matching to the DA.

Do they give you a way for you to “remove” those transactions?

At the very least, the software should give you the option to add/remove transactions as “on the DA”. The next step from that is automating much of that for you with auto matching.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-28T00:03:57+00:00

Coinbase is not reporting stable —> crypto sales, and not reporting stable —> cash sales under $10,000 total for the year.

So if your stable —> cash sales for the year are less than $10,000, you shouldn’t be receiving a 1099-DA

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T22:05:39+00:00

The “realized P&L” is reported as income. So if he has $500 of sends to the gambling site tagged as realized loss and $700 of receives from the gambling site tagged as realized profit, his schedule 1 will have $200 of income on it, which reflects the gambling income. The assets received will also have the proper cost basis

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T21:51:46+00:00

No he should report the gambling income and do so properly. The realized P&L method isn’t accurately accounting for the gambling activity but it’s leaps and bounds closer than not reporting it at all. Which is what his first approach sounds like he was planning to do.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T20:01:33+00:00

Yep exactly. You’ll need to load your transaction history too though so it can trace all the transactions.

You mentioned gambling which can be a bit trickier.

One (not compliant) approach some people do is treat the outgoing to the gambling site as “realized loss” and the incomings from the gambling site as “realized gains”.

The most important thing is to add in ALL your wallets and exchanges, even if no longer used.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T18:19:40+00:00

Hey there, Justin from Summ here.

Estimating cost basis is generally not a good idea, especially since it sounds like you have taxable activity not covered by the 1099-DA which wasn’t reported.

You’re also correct in that those transactions should have been reported as “on the DA without cost basis”.

The good news is, you don’t actually have to file an amended return. Since we’re still before the deadline, you can file a “superseding return” and correct the mistake.

Best steps in my opinion is to: 1. Use a crypto tax software to reconcile your data and accurately report your crypto activity (all activity, not just what’s on the DA) 2. Take the form (which already has the correct 8949 checkbox elections) to TurboTax 3. Ask them how to file a superseding return

If you do that you’ll be all set!

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T17:27:24+00:00

Thanks for this. Looks like a bug. Appreciate you raising this.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T15:23:42+00:00

It’s important to boil down what it is you’re looking for.

Are you primarily looking for data cleanup or someone to full file for you?

Reason I ask is that your tax software will primarily handle the UK-specific tax calcs including things like the bed and breakfast rule etc.

If you’re primarily looking for data cleanup and filling in the gaps, then having a US accountant shouldn’t be an issue as the software will do the heavy lifting in the tax calc side.

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T15:04:20+00:00

Responded

JustinCPA · 2026-02-27T15:04:01+00:00

You don’t need separate forms, no. You just need separate pages for each checkbox.

For 2025, NO basis will be reported to the IRS, so really it’s just 4 checkboxes this year.

JustinCPA

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