What this line means
The total short-term gains and losses from assets reported on Form 8949 with Box C checked — meaning you did not receive a 1099-B for these transactions at all. These are assets held one year or less that you sold in a transaction where no broker reported the sale to the IRS.
Does this apply to you?
- You sold cryptocurrency through a decentralized exchange or peer-to-peer transaction with no 1099-B issued
- You sold personal property like a vehicle, collectibles, or jewelry at a gain
- You sold assets in a private transaction — not through a broker or exchange
- You received proceeds from a lawsuit settlement that represents a short-term capital gain
Easy to overlook
Crypto sold through DeFi protocols and wallets Decentralized exchanges like Uniswap do not issue 1099-Bs. Every swap, liquidity pool withdrawal, or NFT sale is still a taxable event. You need to track these yourself using transaction records from the blockchain. The IRS has stated that all cryptocurrency dispositions are reportable regardless of whether a 1099 was issued. 1 General filing pattern — unreported peer-to-peer crypto sales
Private sales of personal property at a gain If you sold a car, boat, or piece of art for more than you paid, the gain is taxable. No one sends you a tax form for this. Losses on personal property are not deductible, but gains are taxable — an asymmetry many filers do not realize exists. 2 IRS Schedule D instructions — Line 1c
Watch out for this
Not reporting cryptocurrency sales because no 1099-B was issued. The IRS requires reporting of all capital asset sales regardless of information reporting. The digital assets question on Form 1040 page 1 specifically asks whether you sold or exchanged digital assets. Answering “yes” and then omitting the transactions creates an obvious inconsistency.
Footnotes
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IRS Schedule D (Form 1040) Instructions. See also IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf ↩
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IRS Schedule D (Form 1040) Instructions, Line 1c. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040sd ↩