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When do I need to manually classify my crypto transactions?
When do I need to manually classify my crypto transactions?

Learn when to manually classify wallet deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions within CoinLedger.

David Kemmerer avatar
Written by David Kemmerer
Updated over a year ago

When it comes to tax reporting, not all crypto transactions are created equal.

For example - a transaction from your MetaMask or Coinbase wallet which appears to be a simple deposit of ETH could actually be a(n):

  • airdrop

  • staking reward

  • mining reward

  • received gift

  • interest income

  • self wallet transfer

  • other

All of these "deposit type" transactions can have very different tax implications, which is why it's important to classify your deposits properly. The same holds true for "withdrawal type" transactions or "uncategorized" transactions.

When you first import your crypto data to CoinLedger, the vast majority of transaction classification gets handled automatically. Still, there may be scenarios where CoinLedger isn't able to auto-classify your transactions. In these cases, you will want to manually classify your transactions into their correct type so the proper tax treatment gets applied. We will discuss how and when to do this this further below.

If you're looking for information on which transaction types we support and what they mean, please review this guide.

When do I need to manually classify transactions?

The most common scenario in which manual classification within CoinLedger is required is for:

  • Deposit transactions that were actually a form of income, and

  • Withdrawal transactions that were actually a disposal of your crypto

For example:

Let's say you receive a 1 ETH staking reward from the Ethereum blockchain to your Coinbase wallet. That same day, you transfer 2 ETH from your MetaMask Wallet, to your Coinbase wallet.

Within CoinLedger, each of these transactions will likely appear as generic 'deposit' transaction types, each to your Coinbase wallet. However, one deposit—the staking reward—was actually a form of income, while the other deposit was a non-taxable self-wallet transfer.

In this scenario, you will need to manually classify the 1 ETH staking reward to its appropriate 'Staking' transaction type. This will ensure CoinLedger recognizes income for the received staking reward and assigns proper cost basis to that amount of ETH.

You won't need to classify the 2 ETH sent from MetaMask to your Coinbase Wallet as generic deposit transaction types are already treated as non-taxable self-wallet transfers by default.

Other transactions that may need manual classification

Similar to our example above, some other common transactions in which CoinLedger may not be able to auto-classify your data (you will need to do so manually) include:

  • payments made from your wallet to a person or vendor

  • gifts of crypto sent

  • gifts received

  • airdrops

  • NFT Mints

  • staking reward

  • interest

  • complex defi transactions

Note - not properly classifying your transactions can lead to missing cost basis transactions.

How to classify your transactions

You can classify any of your transactions within the 'Review' step of CoinLedger, and can either classify transactions one-by-one, or through bulk action.

Learn how to classify your transactions here:

If you have questions specifically about classifying NFT Mint transactions, those can be answered here:

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