Polymarket 1099: Does Polymarket Send Tax Forms?

The international Polymarket exchange does not send US users a 1099. It is a non-custodial, offshore platform that settles on the Polygon blockchain, and it has historically issued no US tax forms. Polymarket US, the CFTC-regulated exchange Polymarket launched after buying QCEX, is a different entity and may issue forms for activity there. Either way, the absence of a Polymarket 1099 does not change what you owe: profits are reportable whether or not a form arrives.

OddsFile is software, not tax advice. The IRS has not issued guidance on how prediction-market contracts are taxed. This article explains what forms exist and how people report without them; a tax professional can tell you what fits your situation.

Which Polymarket are you on?

If you traded on the international exchange before US users were limited to closing positions, all of that history is in your wallet, and none of it will come with a form.

Why there's no 1099 from the international exchange

Information returns are filed by payers and brokers who know who you are and hold your assets. The international exchange doesn't hold your funds; your wallet does. The two forms that could plausibly apply don't reach it:

• Form 1099-B is filed by brokers. A non-custodial smart-contract exchange isn't acting as your broker in the traditional sense.
• Form 1099-DA is the new digital asset broker form (gross proceeds for 2025 sales, basis for covered assets acquired from 2026). Treasury's rule extending it to DeFi platforms was nullified by Congress in April 2025, so non-custodial venues aren't expected to issue it. See 1099-DA explained for Polymarket and Hyperliquid users.

Forms you might receive anyway

Your Polymarket activity touches other companies, and some of them do report:

1. The exchange where you bought USDC (Coinbase, Kraken and others) may issue a 1099-DA for sales of digital assets on that exchange. If you sold ETH to buy USDC and sent it to Polymarket, the ETH sale appears there. Your Polymarket trades do not.
2. A 1099-MISC could arrive from a company that paid you a reward or promotion above the threshold ($2,000 for payments made in 2026, up from $600).
3. Polymarket US may send whatever its regulated structure requires. Watch your account's tax documents section and email.

Don't confuse a 1099-DA for your USDC purchases with a report of your Polymarket profits. Buying USDC with dollars and holding it usually produces little or no gain; the profit or loss from your trades is a separate calculation.

How to report without a 1099

No form means you calculate it yourself. The usual process:

1. Find your proxy wallet address. Polymarket trades from a proxy wallet tied to your login; the address in your profile is the one with your trading history.
2. Pull the full history: trades, redemptions, rewards, splits and merges, deposits and withdrawals.
3. Close every position. Include markets that resolved against you, even though you never redeemed them. Missing them overstates profit. See unredeemed losing positions.
4. Account for fees. The difference between the USDC you paid and shares × price is the fee. See Polymarket fees and taxes.
5. Match lots with a consistent method (FIFO or specific identification).
6. Choose a treatment with your preparer: capital gains (Form 8949), other income, gambling, or, rarely, Section 1256. Compared in Polymarket taxes: the complete guide.

Example

A trader's wallet shows:

• 120 trades across 35 markets
• 22 markets redeemed for $14,200 total
• 13 markets lost, never redeemed: $4,100 of cost basis
• Total cost basis across all 35 markets: $13,500, including $180 of fees

A naive calculation that only counts redeemed markets reports $4,100 of profit that never existed. Under capital treatment at an assumed 24% rate, that's about $984 of tax on money you lost.

Run the free OddsFile check: paste your Polymarket address and see every closed position, including unredeemed losers, with 2026 P&L under each treatment.

Does the IRS know about my Polymarket account?

Without a 1099, the IRS doesn't get an automatic report of your Polymarket P&L. But the blockchain is public, wallet addresses can be linked to exchange accounts through deposits and withdrawals, and those exchanges do report. Form 1040 also asks every filer whether they received, sold or exchanged digital assets during the year; Polymarket activity means the answer is yes.

FAQ

Does Polymarket send a 1099?

Not from the international exchange. Polymarket US is a regulated exchange and may issue forms for US accounts; check its tax documentation.

What tax documents can I download from Polymarket?

The international exchange has no tax document center. You can export history from the interface or rebuild it from public data, which is what tax software does.

I got a 1099-DA from Coinbase. Does it include my Polymarket trades?

No. It covers sales on Coinbase. Your Polymarket trades happened in your own wallet on Polygon.

Do I have to report Polymarket if I didn't get a form?

Yes. Reporting doesn't depend on receiving a form. Form thresholds only decide when a payer files a form.

Is a Polymarket 1099 coming for 2026?

For the international exchange, nothing announced suggests it. For Polymarket US, watch your account; regulated exchanges generally report under the rules for their products.

Next steps

Rebuild your history from the wallet, include the losers, and take a per-market report to your preparer. Start with the free check, and read are Polymarket losses tax deductible? if your year ended in the red.