A gift of bitcoin to a charity is not a number this worksheet knows how to deduct.
Not tax advice · reviewed 25 October 2026
Donating bitcoin
Notice 2014-21 treats bitcoin as property. Donating property raises questions BasisFix does not answer: whether the gift is a charitable contribution, what substantiation the charity must give you, and whether any gain is recognized. There is no Form 8283 here, and there is no percentage limit, because those figures are not in this product. The file you can export is a review with a tax pro.
What to do with the row
- A send to an address you do not control is not assumed to be a self-transfer. If it does not match a receive in your own files, the lots stay put and you get a warning rather than proceeds. See self-transfers are not sales.
- Do not relabel that send as a sale at a spot price just to make the worksheet close. A sale at market value is a different claim from a donation.
- The recipient’s basis, if the coins were a gift rather than a payment, is also outside BasisFix. See gifts and inheritance.
- Keep the acquisition records. A missing cost is left blank on purpose. Zero is not a placeholder. See missing basis.
If your preparer decides a particular transfer is a sale, enter it as a sell with the proceeds they tell you to use. The app will not infer that from the word “donate,” because the importers do not have that type.
Questions
Does BasisFix compute a charitable deduction?
No. It does not compute a charitable contribution deduction, it does not prepare Form 8283, and it does not apply a percentage-of-income limit. A preparer does that from the charity’s acknowledgment and your basis records.
Is a donation a sale inside this worksheet?
Not automatically. Giving bitcoin away can still be a disposition for basis tracking, and it is not the same event as selling for dollars. BasisFix will not book a transfer to a charity as a sale at market value unless you enter a sale on purpose.
Can the basis be left blank?
Yes. A missing basis stays missing. BasisFix will not substitute zero or a spot price. If a sale row has no supportable cost, that row is kept out of the gain total.