Year-End Crypto Records Checklist: What to Save Before 31 December (2026)
What crypto records should you save before 31 December?
A year-end records file, not a tax return: for every receipt, swap and disposal this calendar year, save the date and time, the asset and units, the value in your local currency at that moment, the fees, the transaction ID, and which wallet or app was involved. The IRS tells US readers, on its digital assets page checked on 2026-11-08, to keep records of each purchase, receipt, sale, exchange or other disposition, and of the fair market value in US dollars of digital assets received as income. HMRC tells UK readers to keep their own per-transaction records for each pool of tokens, including wallet addresses if they help. This page is a checklist for activity in CoinDrop and Swappr. It is educational only, not tax advice, and it does not decide whether something is taxable.
CoinX is GSPTeck's crypto projects hub, home of CoinDrop and Swappr. Use this checklist with the earlier guides on whether crypto airdrops and swaps are taxable and on Form 1099-DA for swaps and airdrops. Those two posts cover taxability and broker forms. This one covers the file you should be able to hand yourself, or an adviser, in January.
Why 31 December, and why not only 31 December?
31 December is the last day of the US federal calendar tax year, so a snapshot on that date matches the year a US return later asks about. It is not the only date that matters. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, as HMRC states on its cryptoassets guidance, so UK readers should keep the same style of records through 5 April as well. Filing deadlines depend on the agency and on your situation; this post does not invent a due date. Check the live IRS or HMRC pages for the year you are filing, or ask an adviser.
A 31 December pass is still useful for everyone: export wallet histories, list Swappr order IDs and CoinDrop rewards, and store copies outside your phone before a form arrives and you have to reconstruct a year from memory.
The 10-item year-end crypto records checklist
The IRS says that to calculate a capital gain or loss you need the type of digital asset, the date and time, the number of units, the fair market value in US dollars at that time, and the basis of what you sold or disposed of. HMRC's list for each transaction in a token pool includes the type of tokens, the date you disposed of them, the number disposed of, the number left, the value in pound sterling, bank statements, and pooled costs before and after the disposal. The table below turns those official lists into a single year-end file. It is our checklist, not an official form.
| Item | What to save | Where it usually lives |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wallet inventory | Every address you control, with a label (CoinDrop withdraw address, Swappr destination, hardware wallet, exchange) | Your wallet apps; write the labels yourself |
| 2. Receipts | Date and time, asset, units, and value in your local currency when you received a reward, airdrop or other payment | On-chain history; CoinDrop reward log; screenshots if the app does not export |
| 3. Disposals | The same fields for every sale, swap or payment you made with crypto | Swappr order history; destination wallet; explorer |
| 4. Transaction IDs | The send TXID and, for a swap, the receive TXID and the order ID | Explorer; Swappr order screen |
| 5. Fees | Network fees and any service fee shown on the order, in the coin you paid | Wallet send screen; Swappr order; see the network fee guide |
| 6. Basis notes | What you originally paid, or the value you recorded when you received the units | Your own ledger; not an exchange report alone |
| 7. Own-wallet transfers | Moves between addresses you control, marked as such, with any fee paid in crypto | Explorer; your labels from item 1 |
| 8. Broker forms | Any Form 1099-DA or similar statement, saved as a file, even if it looks incomplete | Email or broker download; reconcile later |
| 9. Bank statements | Fiat deposits or withdrawals that sit next to a crypto event | Your bank; HMRC lists these explicitly |
| 10. Source note | A one-line note on how you chose the value that day | Your ledger; do not invent a rate later |
HMRC warns that exchange reports can help but are not tax calculations and will not track pooled costs. You must keep your own records. The same idea applies to any app history you do not control: export it or copy it.
What should you save for CoinDrop rewards?
CoinDrop is a free Android app for earning crypto daily with airdrop rewards, simple tasks and referrals. For each reward or later withdrawal, record the date and time, the token and units, the wallet that received them, and the transaction ID if the movement is on-chain. The IRS digital assets page, checked on 2026-11-08, tells you to keep the fair market value in US dollars of digital assets received as income or as a payment. That is a record-keeping instruction, not a conclusion that every reward is taxable for you; the taxability guide walks through the situations.
Add a short source tag such as "daily button", "task" or "referral". If you later move tokens to another wallet, record that transfer separately so you do not count the same units as a new receipt. Install the app only from the official CoinDrop listing on Google Play, and read what it does on the CoinDrop site.
What should you save for Swappr swaps?
Swappr is a free Android app for simple multi-coin crypto swaps. For each swap, save the order ID, the pair and networks, the amount you sent, the amount the order quoted or later delivered, whether you chose a fixed or floating rate, the deposit address, the destination address, both transaction IDs, and the timestamps. A crypto-to-crypto swap is a disposal in the systems the IRS and HMRC describe; keep the file even if no broker form arrives. How a form fits is covered in the Form 1099-DA guide, not here.
Write down the destination address from your own wallet, not from a chat message, and save any memo or destination tag. Fees you pay in crypto to send the deposit are part of the event; the network fee guide explains why a fee paid in crypto can itself be a digital asset transaction. See the Swappr site or the Swappr Play listing for how an order works. The apps are free to install and do not file records for you.
How long should you keep the file?
There is no single crypto-only retention period on the pages checked on 2026-11-08, so use the general record-keeping rules and keep property records at least until the limitation period for the year you dispose of the asset has run. The IRS page on how long to keep records says, unless listed exceptions apply, to keep records for 3 years after you file; to keep them for 6 years if you omit more than 25 percent of the gross income shown on the return; for 7 years if you claim a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt; and indefinitely if you file no return or file a fraudulent one. It also says that records connected to property should generally be kept until the period of limitations expires for the year you dispose of the property, because you need them to figure gain or loss.
HMRC's Capital Gains Tax records page says you must keep the records for at least a year after the Self Assessment deadline, longer if you sent the return late or HMRC has started a check, and that businesses must keep records for 5 years after the deadline. Those periods can change and they depend on your facts. Read the live pages rather than treating any number in this paragraph as "your" deadline.
Keep the year-end file, the exports and any forms together, in two places, until you have read the matching agency page for the year you dispose of the last related asset. The self-custody setup guide and the note on how free crypto apps make money help you label which app did what.
What this checklist is not
It is not tax advice, a filing service, or a list of thresholds. It does not decide whether a reward or swap is taxable, or whether a Form 1099-DA will arrive; those questions belong to the two guides linked above and to an adviser. If you did not record a fair market value on the day, do not invent one later without a source you can point to.
FAQ
Is this a tax-return checklist or a records checklist?
It is a records checklist. The IRS and HMRC both tell people to keep their own records of crypto events. What you then report, on which form and by which date, depends on your jurisdiction and your facts.
Do I still need records if I never sold anything for dollars?
You may. The IRS lists exchanges of one digital asset for another, and receipts of digital assets as income, among the events to document. HMRC treats exchanging tokens for a different type of cryptoasset as a disposal.
What if CoinDrop or Swappr does not offer a tax export?
Keep the records yourself. Copy order IDs, reward dates, amounts and transaction IDs into a spreadsheet, and save screenshots where a history screen might change. HMRC says exchange reports are not enough on their own.
When is 31 December the wrong inventory date?
If you file in a system whose tax year is not the calendar year, 31 December is only a checkpoint. UK readers following HMRC should also keep records through 5 April. If you disposed of an asset after 31 December, keep the records for that later event too, using the same columns.
Sources
- IRS: Digital assets (records, fair market value, dispositions) (checked 2026-11-08)
- IRS: How long should I keep records? (checked 2026-11-08)
- HMRC: Check if you need to pay tax when you sell cryptoassets (records you must keep) (updated 5 October 2026; checked 2026-11-08)
- HMRC: Capital Gains Tax records (checked 2026-11-08)