Updated October 17, 2026. Quick answer: Boxes 1c, 1d and 1e of Form 1099-DA show how many units of a digital asset were disposed of, the date they were acquired and the date they were sold or otherwise disposed of. They concern anyone whose broker reported a disposition. Box 1d may be blank, and the form lists the reasons.
What the three boxes show
The recipient instructions describe each box in a single sentence, and the three are easiest to read side by side. They sit between the identifying boxes (Form 1099-DA boxes 1a and 1b) and the money boxes (Form 1099-DA box 1f and Form 1099-DA box 1g), and the whole form is mapped in the Form 1099-DA boxes guide.
| Box | Recipient instructions |
|---|---|
| 1c Number of units | “Shows the number of digital asset units sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of in the transaction.” |
| 1d Date acquired | “Shows the original date the assets were acquired.” |
| 1e Date sold or disposed | “Shows the sale or disposition date.” |
Box 1c is a count, not a dollar figure. The broker’s instruction for it says the units are entered “to 18 decimal places.”.
How the broker fills in the dates
The broker’s instruction for box 1d is: “Enter the acquisition date of the digital asset sold in MM/DD/YYYY format.” For box 1e: “Enter the date of the digital asset sale in MM/DD/YYYY format.”
When box 1d is blank
Box 1d is the one most often left empty. The recipient instructions list the reasons: “This box may be blank if box 9 is checked or if the digital assets sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of were acquired on a variety of dates or if the date was unknown to the filer.”
The broker’s own instruction lists the same situations as the times to leave the box empty, and it adds a third. One is when “The digital assets sold were acquired on a variety of dates,” another is when “You check box 9 and you do not know the acquisition date or you choose to not complete box 1d, or” and the last is when “You are reporting sales of qualifying stablecoins or specified NFTs using an optional reporting method.”
Box 9 is the noncovered-security check box and has its own explanation at Form 1099-DA boxes 2 and 9.
Which units were sold when you hold several lots
If you bought the same asset at different times, which units were sold decides what dates and amounts show up. The broker’s instructions say how the broker picks: “report the sale according to the customer’s adequate and timely identification of the digital assets to be sold.” “If no identification is provided at or prior to the time of the sale, you generally must first report the sale of the earliest units of the digital asset purchased by the customer.”
The recipient instructions have a matching check box: “If checked, you provided acquisition information to your broker and they relied on it when identifying which digital asset was sold, exchanged, or disposed.”
For units that arrived from elsewhere, the broker’s instruction is: “treat digital assets transferred into the customer’s account as acquired as of the date and time of the transfer.” Transfers into the broker’s account are reported separately in box 12b, which the recipient instructions describe this way: “Shows the date of any transfer-in.”
Where the dates go on the return
Boxes 1c to 1e do not carry to the return as separate figures. The form says where the transaction belongs: “Indicates where to report this transaction on Form 8949 and Schedule D (Form 1040), and which checkbox is applicable.” The forms involved are Form 8949 and Schedule D.
The recipient instructions also say that a person who received this form generally should check the Yes box next to the digital asset question. Whether a swap is a taxable event is covered in whether swapping one crypto for another is taxable.
Edition and box numbers
The primary read for this page is the 2025 edition of Form 1099-DA with its Instructions for Recipient, the form a taxpayer received in early 2026 for tax year 2025. The 2026 edition was the one irs.gov served as current on 2026-10-17, and both editions were compared for boxes 1c, 1d and 1e. The recipient text for boxes 1c, 1d and 1e reads the same in both editions. The filer instruction for box 1e changes its heading from “Box 1e. Date Sold” in 2025 to “Box 1e. Date Sold or Disposed” in 2026, and the date example moves from May 24, 2025 to May 24, 2026. The 2026 recipient instructions add a note near the box descriptions: “Boxes 1d, 1e, 1g, 1h, 1i, 2, 3a, 3b, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12a, and 12b may be blank if the broker is reporting sales of qualifying stablecoins or specified NFTs using an optional reporting method.” The 2025 recipient instructions have no such note. That note lists boxes 1d and 1e, so under the optional method for those assets both dates may be blank, while box 1c is not on the list. Check the tax year printed on the form you received, because the edition behind your form decides which wording applies to you.
Common mistakes
- Reading a blank box 1d as an error. The instructions say it “may be blank if box 9 is checked”, among other reasons.
- Leaving the acquisition date off Form 8949 because the form did not supply it. The recipient instructions say of the cost box on the same line that “you will need to determine your basis based on your own books and records.”
- Assuming the units in box 1c are the whole position. The box shows “the number of digital asset units sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of in the transaction.”
Related: Form 8949, Schedule D, swapping one crypto for another, and the Form 1099-B short-term or long-term box.
Sources
- Form 1099-DA (2025) with Instructions for Recipient: IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Form 1099-DA (2026) with Instructions for Recipient: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1099da.pdf
- Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2025): IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Instructions for Form 1099-DA (2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099da.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.