Breaking: US House Advances Crypto Tax Bill Despite CLARITY Act Setback

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee’s crypto tax bill aimed just passed with a vote of 38-5. This providing the crypto industry with a new legislative milestone on the eve of the Senate’s failure to move the crucial CLARITY Act legislation.

Ad

Ad

US House Votes In Favor of Crypto Tax Bill

Committee Chair Rep. Jason Smith said the crypto tax bill markup vote was a milestone. He said, “This is a historic moment for this Committee: after more than a year of working together, Republican and Democrat Members have come together to establish the first-ever tax framework for digital assets.”

For context, H.R. 10357 is a crypto tax bill that proposes major changes to portions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to digital assets. It contains a de minimis exception for certain network and transaction fees of up to $10, that allows for the avoidance of gain or loss recognition for qualifying payments.

Moreover, the cryptocurrency tax legislation would also provide simplified accounting procedures for widely-traded digital assets and provide special tax treatment for qualifying U.S. dollar-stable coin transactions.

The bill also incorporates current tax laws for crypto, such as wash sale and constructive sale provisions, as well as provisions for crypto mining and staking income. Further, it even establishes the digital-asset broker requirements and a voluntary disclosure program for eligible taxpayers to correct certain digital-asset tax compliance issues.

Ad

Ad

The CLARITY Act Woes In Focus

The House committee action follows a big stumble for the CLARITY Act in the Senate on Sept. 15. The market-structure bill received a vote of 49-50, short of the 60 votes needed to put it to a vote on cloture. The vote was a procedural vote, not a vote to pass or fail.

The Senate’s crypto bill has stalled after Tuesday’s cloture failure. However, netizens believe that the CLARITY Act can get a second chance at Senate cloture vote. This speculation stems from Sen. Thom Tillis changing his vote from Yes to No yesterday after it was evident that the bill won’t advance.

Under the current Senate laws, in case a bill fails to advance, a Senator from the prevailing side can file for a reconsideration of a cloture. Hence, the market is now eyeing a filing for such a motion from Tillis.