House Ways and Means Committee members voted 38 yeas to 5 nays on Sept. 16 to advance the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, then voted 40 yeas to 0 nays to advance the EFIN Verification Act of 2026, sending both to the full House as committee-passed bills rather than law. The first would rewrite how the tax code treats gains, mining income and staking rewards from digital assets such as bitcoin and ether. The second would require the IRS to verify a tax preparer’s e-file identification number before a return filed under it is accepted, a response to fraud that routes stolen refunds through hijacked preparer credentials.
Inside the kit: The IRS Refund Recovery Kit includes a notice decoder for matching an IRS letter to its actual cause and the refund-trace steps for filing Form 3911 when a refund never arrives. Decode what an IRS notice actually means →
Two Committee Votes, Same Markup, Neither A Law Yet
Both measures moved through the same Sept. 16 session and left the committee marked “ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives as amended,” the status the committee’s own record of the markup assigns to every bill it took up that day. The Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, introduced Sept. 14 by Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., is now H.R. 10357; the EFIN Verification Act of 2026, introduced Sept. 10 by Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan., is H.R. 10334. Neither bill has a scheduled floor vote in the House, and each still needs Senate passage and a presidential signature before it changes anything a taxpayer actually does.
What The Crypto Tax Bill Would Actually Change
The bill’s provisions, as the committee describes them, include a new exemption for small transaction and network fees of $10 or less, clearer rules for taxing mining and staking income, and parity between digital assets and comparable traditional financial assets under the tax code’s existing anti-abuse rules. Smith called it “the product of bipartisan discussions and collaboration among members of the Ways and Means Committee to address the uncertainty and burdensome compliance challenges that threaten to undermine the rapidly growing and increasingly popular $2 trillion digital asset economy.” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., a cosponsor, said the bill “allows our tax code to keep pace with innovation.” The small-fee exemption mirrors treatment long available to foreign currency and other everyday property, so a $6 network fee on a routine transfer would stop generating its own taxable gain-or-loss calculation. For an older investor who holds any digital assets in a taxable account, the practical effect, if the bill becomes law, would be fewer year-end complications from small transactions and clearer treatment of income earned by holding rather than selling. The bill also would let a donor give appreciated digital assets to charity under the same rules that already apply to stock, and it sets specific tax treatment for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, a category the current code does not address directly.
Why A Preparer’s E-File Number Became A Fraud Target
The EFIN Verification Act would require the IRS to confirm that a preparer’s e-file identification number is active and authorized before software processes a return filed under it, effectively writing an existing IRS pilot program into law. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., the bill’s Democratic cosponsor, said the IRS “currently lacks the tools to authenticate” the numbers, calling the resulting exposure “a security gap” that “leaves those numbers vulnerable to theft and misuse by online scammers.” Estes said the bill “will reduce the risk of fraudsters using stolen or compromised EFIN numbers to file IRS returns.” A stolen or resold EFIN lets a scammer file returns, and collect refunds, under the appearance of a legitimate preparer, the same failure mode that leaves a genuine taxpayer discovering months later that a return was filed, and a refund paid out, without their knowledge. The bipartisan pairing of a Kansas Republican and a California Democrat as lead sponsors is itself notable on a committee whose crypto bill divided along closer lines.
What Filing-Season Deadlines Still Apply Regardless
None of it changes a return already filed, a refund already delayed, or the deadline that governs a refund claim today. The three-year window from a return’s original filing date, or two years from the date a tax was paid, whichever is later, still controls whether the IRS will pay out money already owed, regardless of what eventually happens to either bill’s digital-asset or preparer-verification provisions. A taxpayer waiting on a refund tied up in an identity-verification notice, or one filed through a preparer whose credentials later come into question, still has to work the existing appeals and tracing process rather than wait for Congress. Filing through a preparer whose EFIN turns out to have been compromised does not excuse a taxpayer from that process; the return still has to be corrected and any fraudulently claimed refund still has to be traced and resolved with the agency directly.
The Path Left Before Either Bill Changes A Tax Return
A bill ordered reported by committee has cleared only the first of several steps required to become law. It still needs a House floor vote, then Senate passage, often in a different form, before it could reach the president’s desk. The Ways and Means Committee’s markup that day also took up five other measures, several passed by narrower or split margins, a reminder that a committee vote settles only where committee members stand, not what either chamber eventually sends to the White House.
What A Delayed Refund Or Flagged Notice Still Requires
Neither bill approved in the Sept. 16 markup changes what a taxpayer dealing with a delayed refund or an identity-verification notice needs to do this filing season. A refund held up by an IRS notice, a preparer’s e-file number flagged as a mismatch, or a transcript showing a different figure than the return that was filed still has to be traced by hand, typically against a three-year deadline most filers do not track.
The IRS Refund Recovery Kit lays out a notice decoder for matching an IRS letter to its actual cause and the refund-trace steps for filing Form 3911 when a “sent” refund never shows up.
Read the notice decoder and refund-trace steps in The IRS Refund Recovery Kit.
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
