Tax-Free Bitcoin for Coffee? BPI Explains Exemption Fight

If you want to buy a $4 latte with Bitcoin, you owe the IRS a capital gains calculation simply because your crypto appreciated by six cents. Of course, this is a huge hindrance to mainstream adoption in the payment sector. 

The IRS classifies Bitcoin as property, which means that every transaction triggers a reporting obligation. 

However, the fight to end this tax nightmare is heating up in Washington.

A once-in-a-decade opportunity 

According to a brief released by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), the 119th Congress represents the best opportunity in a decade to finally secure a de minimis tax exemption.

Congress already solved this exact problem decades ago for foreign fiat currencies. 

In mid-2025, Senator Cynthia Lummis filed a standalone bill proposing a broad $300 per-transaction threshold (with a $5,000 annual cap) for digital assets used to buy goods or services. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent even offered its input on the issue. 

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A bipartisan discussion draft from Representatives Max Miller (R-OH) and Steven Horsford (D-NV) was introduced to limit the de minimis provision to only regulated payment stablecoins (in a huge blow to Bitcoin fans). 

The BPI then launched a Capitol Hill engagement campaign to counter the anti-Bitcoin draft. Over the past three months, the institute has met with 19 congressional offices across the House and Senate to explain why the stablecoin-only approach is too myopic. 

The political window to pass the much-needed exemption is narrowing with each passing day. Congress will soon be consumed by the midterms, and Senator Lummis is scheduled to depart the Senate in January 2027.

“If a package does not come together in the next few months, the opportunity may not return for years,” the lobbying organization warns.