undetermined term transactions for noncovered tax lots (Precious metal ETFs i.e., GLD, IAU, SLV etc)

Good Grief ...  all this fuss over $17 of a return of principal ?   

Just make one entry in the system ...

here's an explanation:

iShares® Gold Trust
2019 Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement
EIN: 816124036
CUSIP: 464285105
Ticker: IAU

The following information is being provided to assist Shareholders of the iShares® Gold Trust with reporting of their taxable income and expenses for the period January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019, pursuant to Treasury Regulation Section 1.671-5. Under this regulation, the iShares® Gold Trust is considered a "non-mortgage widely held fixed investment trust."

The example provided herein is based on a U.S. individual Shareholder who purchased its iShares® Gold Trust shares for cash. All Shareholders should contact their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of the information reported in iShares® Gold Trust Data below.

TAXATION OF THE TRUST
The iShares® Gold Trust is a grantor trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, the Trust itself is not subject to U.S. federal income tax. Instead, the Trust’s income and expenses “flow through” to the Shareholders.

TAXATION OF U.S. INDIVIDUAL SHAREHOLDERS
Shareholders generally will be treated, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as if they directly owned a pro rata share of the underlying assets held in the Trust. Shareholders also will be treated as if they directly received their respective pro rata shares of the Trust’s income and proceeds, and directly incurred their pro rata share of the Trust’s expenses. Most state and local tax authorities follow U.S. Income tax rules in this regard. However, Shareholders should contact their own tax advisors as to the state and local tax consequences of ownership of IAU shares.

The Trust holds only gold bullion and, accordingly, received no income during the year.

Trust expenses, which are miscellaneous itemized deductions for shareholders, are no longer deductible for individuals in 2019. However, the sale of gold to cover trust expenses is used to calculate each shareholder's tax basis.

Because the Trust sold only a de minimis amount of gold for payment of Trust expenses during the year and made no distributions of sale proceeds to its Shareholders, under Treas. Reg. Sec. 1.671-5(c)(2)(iv)(B) the Trust is not required to report the gross proceeds of Trust sales to its Shareholders. However, for those Shareholders who wish to have this information, it is contained in the attached 2019 Gross Proceeds File.

based on the above I'm not sure why your broker is reporting sales proceeds.  however, I agree that no gain/loss should be reported

From my understanding, this is your investment fee.

BUt the mechanic, i dont' know enough yet.

To Determine your basis for IAU - ishares gold EFT go to

https://costbasistools.com/gold/iau.php

enter your purchase date, total cost, number of shares, and it will generate a table for each year with your share of gold sold and your basis. I expect it has the same thing for other precious metal funds. Thank you costbasistools!