I've known about the 1099-DA form requirement for some time now, but today I got curious and took a look at the form on the IRS website.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099da.pdf

The first thing that jumped out at me is that this form looks awfully specific (some may say over-engineered), without the flexibility to include multiple transactions in a table format, similar to a 1099-B, or better yet in summary format which is a nice option.

For lack of a better description, I'm a small time market maker. I provide liquidity to the market, and take advantage of smallish changes in market price. I have 1000's of transactions throughout the year. Furthermore, exchanges report crypto sales back to me per each fill, not per completely filled order, unlike a stock broker.

Am I then going to get 1000's of 1099-DAs? Literal reams of paper forms, with each transaction on an individual page? Is that not sheer madness?

Please tell me I'm crazy, or I'm looking at this incorrectly. I feel I must be missing something obvious somewhere.

  • Justin from Summ here.

    The IRS will receive 1 DA per transactions (yes, potentially thousands per person).

    You will receive one consolidated 1099 (per exchange) which will include the DA, MISC for staking rewards, INT for interest etc.

    parent

    Whew! Thanks for the quick reply.

    parent root

  • Have you looked at a 1099-B? It's the same—one transaction per form.

    Why would you expect to get any of these on paper?

    Also, brokers invariably use a "substitute 1099-B" to avoid exactly the problems you're afraid of.

    parent

  • Shehan from CoinTracker.

    • You will most likely not get a separate 1099-DA for each transaction.
    • Brokers can optionally consolidate all your 1099-DAs into one consolidated statement and send that to you.
    parent

  • You’re not crazy. You’re just reading the form, not the reporting mechanics.

    Here’s what’s actually going on.

    No, you will not receive thousands of separate paper 1099-DAs. That would be madness, and the IRS knows it.

    The 1099-DA is designed as a per-transaction reporting format, but brokers are allowed to:

    deliver it electronically

    bundle multiple transactions in a consolidated statement

    or provide supplemental statements that list many transactions while still satisfying the 1099-DA data requirements

    This is exactly how stock brokers handle thousands of fills today. The form looks “one-transaction-per-page” because the IRS wants standardized fields, not because they expect literal paper spam.

    A few key clarifications that matter for someone like you:

    Fills vs orders Yes, crypto exchanges report at the fill level, not order level. That doesn’t change under 1099-DA. You’ll still see many line items, just consolidated.

    You file totals, not forms Even if an exchange reports thousands of transactions to the IRS, you do not attach thousands of 1099-DAs to your return. You report aggregated results on Form 8949 / Schedule D.

    1099-DA ≠ your tax calculation The form reports gross proceeds and dates. Cost basis matching, netting, and strategy-level accounting still happens on your side (or via tax software).

    Electronic-first reality For active traders and market makers, this will be delivered as a CSV / PDF packet, not a box of paper.

    Bottom line: The form looks rigid because the IRS wants clean data. In practice, exchanges will consolidate, and you’ll still file summaries. It’s annoying, but not the apocalypse you’re imagining.

    parent

  • Yeah A it will be one per transaction. Going to be insane.

    parent

  • It is going to be similar to 1099B, a line item for each transaction and a summary per broker.

    Your not going to receive thousands of forms, a whole manuscript in the mail.

    parent