The House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 10357 by a vote of 38–5, advancing a crypto tax package whose centerpiece would spare small digital-asset fee payments from gain-or-loss accounting. Five Democrats opposed the measure, according to Bloomberg Government, while the broader tally indicated support from members of both parties. The bill now moves to the full House, although House leaders have not announced when it will receive a floor vote.

The committee action came one day after the Senate failed to advance the broader Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. Although the measures address different parts of crypto policy, their contrasting outcomes suggest that narrower tax provisions may currently have a clearer route through Congress than comprehensive market legislation.

The $10 Rule Removes a Gain-or-Loss Calculation

Under current federal tax treatment, using cryptocurrency to pay a blockchain fee can count as disposing of that asset. A taxpayer may therefore need to compare the asset's value when it was acquired with its value when it was used, even when the resulting gain or loss amounts to only a few cents. For taxpayers who pay such fees frequently, each payment triggers its own calculation, so accounting burden scales with the number of transactions rather than with the amounts involved.

The committee's proposed substitute would remove that calculation when digital assets are used to pay qualifying network or transaction fees and the aggregate fee does not exceed $10. Underlying transactions can still generate taxable gains of their own.

Network and Transaction Fees Follow Different Rules

The bill separates network fees from transaction fees. A qualifying network fee is paid for validating or processing one or more transfers on a blockchain, and the total fee associated with the transfer — or group of transfers — must not exceed $10.

A qualifying transaction fee includes brokerage, trading, liquidity and similar charges connected with buying or selling digital assets. For this category, the asset used to pay the fee generally must be the same type as the asset involved in the underlying transaction.

The threshold applies to the aggregate fee. Dividing one charge into several smaller payments would not create a separate $10 allowance for each part. The bill would also require an adjustment to tax basis or allowable deductions, a safeguard intended to prevent taxpayers from excluding a gain or loss on the fee and then claiming the same amount again through their tax basis or a deduction.

Who Would Not Qualify for the Fee Exception

The exception would not apply equally to every taxpayer or transaction. The proposed exclusions cover fees connected to several professional or high-volume activities, including:

• Activity conducted by a digital-asset trader, broker or dealer
• Blockchain validation, transaction batching or similar businesses
• Certain taxpayers who completed more than 5,000 digital-asset transfers during the previous year
• Assets already covered by specified mark-to-market tax rules

The Treasury Department would be authorized to issue rules preventing improper use of the exception. That authority could be used to stop taxpayers from dividing one fee or transaction into smaller parts solely to remain below the $10 threshold.

The Bill Also Covers Wash Sales and Digital-Asset Lending

H.R. 10357 extends beyond small transaction fees. Other provisions address how tax rules would apply to losses on certain traded digital assets and to assets transferred through qualifying lending arrangements.

The bill would extend wash-sale and constructive-sale rules to certain covered traded digital assets. Wash-sale rules prevent an investor from claiming a tax loss after selling an asset and quickly repurchasing the same or a substantially identical asset. Under current federal tax law, those rules apply to stock and securities rather than digital assets, so the provision would change the status quo for the assets it covers. The proposed language would not necessarily cover every cryptocurrency; its reach would depend on whether the asset and transaction fall within the bill's definitions.

A qualifying digital-asset loan could avoid being treated as an immediate sale. That structure resembles long-standing securities-lending rules, under which a stock loan carrying an obligation to return equivalent securities is generally not treated as a sale. The exception would apply only when the borrower is required to return equivalent digital assets and the arrangement meets the bill's other conditions.

Fee Relief Would Not Begin Until 2028

If Congress enacts the legislation, the small-fee exception would apply to qualifying disposals made after December 31, 2027. Taxpayers would therefore continue using the current treatment throughout 2027. That starting date applies specifically to the small-fee exception, and it should not be assumed that every provision in the wider package would take effect at the same time.

The Bill Still Faces the Congressional Calendar

H.R. 10357 still requires passage by the full House and Senate, followed by the president's signature. Its immediate obstacle is timing: the House removed six September voting days and is scheduled to begin its next voting period on November 12, leaving limited time for a floor vote before the midterm recess.

The bill can still receive House consideration during a post-election session. If Congress does not enact it before the current Congress ends, however, the proposal would need to be introduced again in the next Congress.

H.R. 10357 has advanced from committee but has not become law. This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial or investment advice.