A gift and an inheritance are property questions. This worksheet does not answer them with a price.
Not tax advice · reviewed 25 October 2026
Bitcoin gifts and inheritance
Notice 2014-21 says bitcoin is property. People then ask two different follow-ups: what basis a recipient takes when coins were a gift, and what basis an heir takes. Those are not the same rule, and BasisFix applies neither. It does not compute carryover basis, it does not compute a step-up, and it does not cite an exclusion amount. A preparer does that work. The file this app writes is a review with a tax pro.
What the rows do instead
- A receive is a transfer in. On a Strike statement, BTC Price is not copied in as income or as basis. If the note says gift, you get a warning, not a lot at market value.
- A Cash App Received P2P row in bitcoin is the same kind of warning. It might be a gift, it might be income, and it might be something else. BasisFix refuses to pick.
- An inherited lot is not a type this importer knows. There is no column that means “date of death” and no fair-market-value lookup.
- Leaving the basis blank keeps the next sale out of the gain total. Putting zero in by habit does the opposite, and BasisFix will not do it for you. See missing basis.
Giving coins away can also be a disposition for the giver, distinct from the recipient’s basis. Charitable gifts are a further case, on donating bitcoin. None of those pages are a substitute for the return.
Questions
Does BasisFix apply a step-up or carryover basis?
No. It does not compute carryover basis on a gift or a step-up on inherited bitcoin. It does not look up an exclusion amount. A tax pro decides the character and the basis. The worksheet will not fill those numbers in for you.
Is bitcoin received as a gift income?
BasisFix does not treat it as income. A Strike receive whose note says gift stays a transfer, and the BTC Price on that row is ignored. Notice 2014-21 treats bitcoin as property. That label alone does not tell you the recipient’s basis.
Should the basis be entered as zero?
No. A missing basis stays missing. Zero would invent a gain on the next sale. If you and your preparer have a supportable basis, it has to be entered on purpose. BasisFix will not guess it from a price column.