06/02/2026
Reinvesting the money does not make the sale invisible to the IRS.
The moment you sell a stock or crypto position, that transaction is taxable. Rolling the proceeds into another investment does not pause the clock. The gain or loss is locked in the second the sale happens.
Losses count too. A few losing trades can offset your winners, and unused losses can carry forward. But none of that works if the records are missing.
Every brokerage and exchange lets you download a full activity report. Pull yours now, while access is easy and the records are clean. Waiting until March is how people end up with missing trades and a return that does not match what the IRS already has on file.
The sale already happened. The reporting is the part you still control.
