What is the UK bed-and-breakfasting rule?

HMRC matches a crypto disposal first against same-day acquisitions, then against any acquisition in the following 30 days, before touching the Section 104 pool. This 30-day rule, historically called bed-and-breakfasting, stops you crystallising a loss and immediately rebuying the same asset.

Does the US wash-sale rule apply to crypto?

Not currently. IRC section 1091 disallows losses on stock or securities reacquired within 30 days, but the IRS treats most crypto as property, so the rule does not yet apply. Congress has repeatedly proposed extending it, so the tool still flags the pattern.

How are quantities matched?

The tool reports how many units of buys fall inside each matching window for every sell. It does not net partial lots or compute gains; it surfaces the re-acquisition pattern so you know which disposals need careful pooling.

No. It is an educational pattern tracker that highlights potential matching events. Actual gain calculations depend on cost basis, pooling, and fees, so confirm with HMRC guidance CRYPTO22200 or a qualified adviser.

Does it handle multiple assets at once?

Treat each asset separately. Matching rules apply per asset, so run one list per coin to avoid mixing disposals of different cryptoassets into the same windows.

Crypto Wash Sale Rule Tracker (US / UK)

Selling crypto at a loss and rebuying it days later may not give you the tax benefit you expect. Both the UK and (potentially) the US have rules that match a disposal back to a nearby re-acquisition, defeating the loss. This tracker scans your trades for those patterns so you know which disposals need careful pooling.

How it works

The UK HMRC matching order for cryptoassets (per guidance CRYPTO22200) is fixed and applies before the Section 104 average-cost pool:

Same-day rule — a disposal is matched first against any acquisition made on the same day.
30-day bed-and-breakfasting rule — then against acquisitions in the 30 days after the disposal.
Section 104 pool — anything left falls into the average-cost pool.

The US wash-sale rule (IRC §1091) is different: it disallows a loss if substantially identical property is acquired within 30 days before or after the sale, a 61-day window. Because the IRS treats most crypto as property rather than “stock or securities”, §1091 does not currently apply to crypto — but proposed legislation would change that, so the tool flags the pattern anyway.

For each sell row the tool counts buy units that land in the same-day window, the UK 30-day-after window, and the US 30-day-before window, then states which rule would match.

Example

Given a sell of 1 unit on 2026-02-15 and a buy of 1 unit on 2026-02-20, the buy is five days after the disposal, so the UK 30-day bed-and-breakfasting rule matches and that disposal does not draw from the Section 104 pool.

Tips and notes

Run one list per asset, since matching is per cryptoasset. Use clean YYYY-MM-DD dates — rows that fail to parse are ignored and counted separately. This tool surfaces matching events only; it does not compute the actual gain or loss, which depends on cost basis and fees.