Polymarket US (QCX) taxes: what's different
Same regulatory shape, same open questions
Polymarket US operates a CFTC-regulated exchange (the QCX entity, launched in December 2025) offering event contracts to US customers. Because the regulatory wrapper matches Kalshi's, the unresolved tax questions match too: no specific IRS guidance, the same Section 1256 vs Schedule D vs wagering debate, and no 1099-B summarizing trades.
If you trade both venues, there is no reason to characterize the same kind of contract differently by venue — consistency across venues is part of a defensible position.
What is actually different
History and tooling. The exchange is months old, its market catalog is sports-led, and third-party tax tooling has barely noticed it exists. Crypto-tax suites that import Polymarket's global on-chain wallets do not cover QCX accounts.
Do not confuse the two Polymarkets. The global platform settles on-chain in crypto, which adds digital-asset tax questions on top of the trading questions — every USDC movement can itself be a taxable event. The US exchange is a conventional dollar-denominated venue. This guide covers the US exchange only.
The practical takeaway
Export your QCX statements and trade history on a schedule starting now. The venue is young enough that its reporting and data-retention practices are still forming; your own archive is the only copy you can count on. Everything else — characterization, forms, elections — follows the same analysis as the Kalshi guides in this cluster.
FAQ
Does Polymarket US send a 1099-B?
No. Like Kalshi, the US exchange does not currently issue a 1099-B summarizing event-contract trading gains; you reconstruct profit and loss from your own records.
Is Polymarket US taxed like crypto?
No. The US exchange is dollar-denominated and CFTC-regulated; the digital-asset layer belongs to the separate global platform. Do not mix the two in your records.
Should I treat Kalshi and Polymarket US trades differently on my return?
There is no principled reason to. Both are CFTC-regulated event contracts, so a consistent characterization across venues is the defensible approach.
Related guides
Keep the record the IRS will ask for
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