NEAR Protocol Taxes in the US 2026 – Staking & Reporting Guide

NEAR is fast, cheap to use, and pays out staking rewards every 12 hours. That last part is where things get complicated at tax time — here's what US holders need to know.

NEAR Capital Gains

Selling or trading NEAR is a standard capital gains event — nothing unusual here:

• Short-term: 10–37% (under 1 year)
• Long-term: 0–20% (over 1 year)

NEAR Staking Rewards

Here's where NEAR gets interesting — and a bit painful. NEAR's delegated proof-of-stake pays out rewards roughly every 12 hours, each epoch. Per IRS Rev. Rul. 2023-14, every reward payment is ordinary income at fair market value when received.

Do the math: 2 reward events per day, 365 days a year. That's 700+ individual income events. If you're staking NEAR without crypto tax software that supports the NEAR blockchain, you're going to have a very bad time at tax season.

Aurora: NEAR's EVM Layer

Aurora is NEAR's EVM-compatible layer — it lets Ethereum DeFi run on NEAR's infrastructure. Trading on Aurora DEXes or using Aurora lending protocols is taxable the same way as any Ethereum DeFi activity. Aurora uses bridged ETH for gas, so every bridge transaction and gas payment also needs to be tracked.

Ref Finance and NEAR DeFi

Ref Finance is the main DEX on NEAR. Every interaction creates tax events:

• Token swaps = taxable disposal of the token you sold
• LP deposits = possible taxable disposal (treated as exchanging tokens for LP tokens)
• LP rewards = ordinary income when received

Tracking NEAR Transactions

Use NEAR Explorer at nearblocks.io to export your wallet history. Make sure your crypto tax software actually supports NEAR Protocol's blockchain format — not all of them do.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. For individual tax advice, consult a licensed tax professional.