Your 1099-DA doesn't match? How to reconcile it
updated november 2026 · ~4 min · not tax advice
The form reports proceeds, not profit
Form 1099-DA is new this cycle: custodial exchanges now report digital-asset dispositions to the IRS. The first instinct — compare the box number to what you think you made — produces a guaranteed 'mismatch', because the form reports gross proceeds: the raw sale amounts, before any basis is subtracted.
On top of that, basis columns only exist for covered assets — lots the broker can see the acquisition of inside their own platform. For the rest, the proceeds show up with no basis attached, which reads like pure gain to anyone skimming the form, including automated matching.
So a 1099-DA that 'doesn't match' is usually doing exactly what it was built to do: reporting a partial view of one platform's ledger to the IRS. Your actual tax number lives in the full record, not in any single form.
Where mismatches actually come from
Transferred-in basis gaps. Basis follows the lot, not the wallet — when you moved crypto into the exchange, the exchange received the asset but not its purchase price. Those lots are noncovered: proceeds on the form, basis missing. This is the single largest source of apparent mismatch.
Off-venue activity is absent by design. Trades on Hyperliquid, DEXs, self-custody — none of it appears on any broker's 1099-DA. If a meaningful share of your year happened off-exchange, the form describes a fraction of the real record.
Your own transfers can look like disposals. A send between two accounts you own is not a sale, but a broker that only sees the outbound leg may book it as one. Same class of problem as spot inventory arriving with no purchase in sight.
Timing and fee conventions. Trade-date vs settlement-date, fees netted or grossed — two honest reports of the same activity can differ line by line while both being 'correct'.
How to reconcile it
Work line by line, not by totals. Pull the broker's transaction-level export behind the 1099-DA and match each reported row to a lot in your own records: date acquired, quantity, basis, date disposed, proceeds. Every row is then either confirmed or bucketed — missing basis (needs external evidence), transfer-not-sale (needs both sides), or off-venue (needs the other venue's record).
Your filed numbers may differ from the form — that's normal, and it's why the underlying evidence matters. A departure from the form that's consistent with your own lot-level record is defensible; a mismatch with no documentation is what invites the follow-up letter.
Basisproof supplies the half the form can't see: the fill-level Hyperliquid record (realized PnL, funding, signed fees, basis chain) plus CEX-evidence injection for transferred-in lots — the reconciliation inputs the broker never had.
Common questions
?My 1099-DA shows a huge number — do I owe tax on all of it?
The number on the form is gross proceeds — total sale amounts before basis. Tax applies to the gain (proceeds minus basis), not the proceeds themselves. The gap between the two is usually most of the number.
?Why is the basis column empty on some rows?
Those are noncovered lots — typically assets transferred in from elsewhere, where the broker never saw the purchase. The proceeds get reported; the basis has to come from your own records.
?Hyperliquid isn't on my 1099-DA at all — is that a problem?
No — non-custodial venues aren't brokers and issue no forms. It means the form is incomplete relative to your actual activity; your Hyperliquid record has to come from the venue's public data directly.
?Can I file numbers that differ from the 1099-DA?
Yes — the form is a starting report, not the final word. What matters is that your filed figures reconcile to your own lot-level records, and that you keep the evidence for any departure.
The half the form can't see
The paid report rebuilds the off-venue record fill by fill and injects exchange-carried basis where the broker's copy went missing — the reconciliation inputs, measured not estimated.