Form 8300 and crypto: do businesses report crypto payments over $10,000?

Many businesses know the rule for large cash payments: take more than $10,000 in cash and you have to report it to the IRS on Form 8300. In 2021, Congress added crypto to that rule. But the IRS has said businesses don’t need to apply it yet. This guide explains what changed, what the IRS’s transitional guidance says, and what still applies.

For how crypto is taxed in general, see US crypto tax. For the forms brokers send, see Form 1099-DA explained.

What Form 8300 is

Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, comes from section 6050I of the tax code. According to the IRS:

• A person in a trade or business who receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or two or more related transactions must file it.
• It must be filed within 15 days of receiving the cash.
• The business must also give each named payer a written statement by 31 January of the following year.
• Businesses should keep a copy of every Form 8300, supporting documents and the customer statement for at least five years.
• Since 1 January 2024, businesses that file 10 or more information returns must file Form 8300 electronically.

What counts as cash? The IRS’s reference guide lists US and foreign coins and currency, and in some circumstances cashier’s checks, bank drafts, traveler’s checks and money orders with a face value of $10,000 or less. A transfer of funds from a financial institution isn’t cash.

Related transactions are transactions between a payer and a business within 24 hours, or further apart when the business knows, or has reason to know, they’re a connected series.

What the 2021 law changed

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed in 2021, changed section 6050I. Section 80603(b)(3) added any digital asset to the definition of cash for Form 8300. The change applies to returns due after 31 December 2023.

On paper, that means a business receiving more than $10,000 in crypto from a customer could have to report it in the same way as $10,000 in banknotes.

What the IRS says now: Announcement 2024-4

In early 2024, the IRS published Announcement 2024-4 (Internal Revenue Bulletin 2024-6), which gives transitional guidance. It says:

• At this time, digital assets aren’t required to be included when determining whether cash received in a transaction, or related transactions, is more than $10,000.
• Treasury and the IRS intend to publish regulations specifically on how section 6050I applies to digital assets, with forms and instructions that cover them.
• Until those regulations are published, a business that receives digital assets, or digital assets plus other cash, doesn’t have to include the digital assets when testing the $10,000 threshold.

When we checked in October 2026, the IRS hadn’t published those regulations, and its Form 8300 reference guide doesn’t mention digital assets. Check the IRS website before relying on the relief, since it ends once regulations take effect.

What still applies

The announcement is narrow. Two things continue:

Cash is still cash. A business that receives more than $10,000 in ordinary cash must still file Form 8300 for it. If a customer pays $12,000 in banknotes and $5,000 in bitcoin, the crypto is left out of the test, but the $12,000 in cash is still over the threshold, so the business files.

Income tax is unchanged. The announcement says it doesn’t affect the income tax obligations of businesses that receive digital assets, or of people who pay with them. The IRS treats crypto as property:

• a business that receives crypto for goods or services generally has income equal to its fair market value in dollars when received;
• a customer who pays with crypto is disposing of it, which can create a capital gain or loss. See spending crypto and tax.

Examples

Whatever the Form 8300 position, the business reports the income from all of these sales on its tax return.

Who this affects most

Form 8300 applies to any trade or business, so the transitional relief matters most to businesses that take large payments and accept crypto, for example:

• dealers in cars, boats, jewelry or art that accept crypto;
• real estate professionals and other businesses that receive large deposits;
• service businesses that bill large amounts and let clients pay in crypto.

Individuals selling personal items outside a business aren’t covered by section 6050I, which applies to cash received in the course of a trade or business.

When the relief could end

The announcement doesn’t set an end date. It applies until Treasury and the IRS publish regulations under section 6050I covering digital assets. Those regulations would also come with new forms and instructions, so businesses should expect advance notice. The IRS’s newsroom and its Form 8300 pages are the places to watch.

Records worth keeping now

Because regulations are expected, businesses that accept crypto are better off keeping records as if reporting could apply:

• the customer’s name and details, as the business would need for Form 8300;
• the date, amount and type of crypto received, and its dollar value at the time;
• the wallet addresses and transaction IDs;
• what was sold, and whether payments were part of a series.

The same records support the business’s income tax reporting. See getting paid in crypto.

For customers

If you’re paying a business in crypto, Form 8300 is the business’s obligation, not yours. Your own tax question is the disposal of the crypto you spend. Keep a record of what you paid for it and its value when you spent it. See US crypto tax.