You can use the calculator at costbasistools dot com for GLD and SLV IMO. Of course, I don't run the site, so make your own decision. The person who runs it seems very competent to me in interacting with him by email. They don't have one for GBTC and others though. You'll have to build a spreadsheet or have an accountant do it for you. This will help you build the spreadsheet if you refer back to my spreadsheet I posted 2 years ago...
Remember the key points:
1. GLD SLV and GBTC ONLY generate Long Term gains when they raise "Proceeds" (see my example spreadsheet to understand what I'm referring to here...https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/retirement/discussion/re-what-is-the-proper-way-to-adjust-the-cost...
The trusts have held their "Stuff" over a year (366 days is the rule), so when you bought the trust, you acquired an interest in "Long Term" appreciated assets, so the FEES not the ETF sales by you are LONG TERM..
2. You can use the calculators on your final sales of the ETFs themselves (the shares; has nothing to do with the fee/"Proceeds" issue), which are either SHORT or LONG term depending on when you bought them. The cost basis reductions from the payments the trusts make to themselves LOWER your ending cost basis from the original, so the final trades are the net Proceeds of your ETF sale MINUS the ADJUSTED COST basis from the calculators mentioned or from your spreadsheet for GBTC or whatever other trust you have to deal with in this manner.
Footnotes:
1. If you try to use the TD Ameritrade cost basis factors (CBFs) to do the calculations, you CANNOT add the CBFs for the year and get the right number, because each CBF refers only to the date of a particular sale of metal/bitcoin. The result is that each CBF is a fraction that can only be used to adjust the immediately prior cost basis, so you have to step through the calculation month by month using the CBFs.
But if you use the amounts of stuff sold as they give you for bitcoin (the GBTC trust does in their tax PDF), you can add an entire year up, divide that by the prior year's end value of remaining stuff that you own, and multiply that by the ORIGINAL COST BASIS of your purchase. Or you can do it stepwise, month by month using the prior month's value of the amount of "Stuff" you owned prior to the "fees being raised by the ETF," but it's more typing!
If you own a trust that has held their "Stuff" (some other new crypto for ex.) for 365 days or less prior to their tax report, all the trades you lump together as one trade will be short term.
BUT If they started the trust on July 1st, then you will have some short term and some long term sales to account for. You can lump them together though as short term or long term and report two trades. Check the boxes (ST vs. LT) on your tax program if needed. Remember, if you bought GLD this year, the "Stuff" only yields LONG TERM trades for you as I explained just above. That means you report only one line with Box F designated. (Long term, not reported to IRS and not on the official part of the 1099 which includes Boxes B and E btw). Check the "Long Term" box even if you owned it less than a year.
Unless something changes, I believe I'm right about it being a Box F transaction, and it won't really matter because the IRS wants to be paid most of all and the taxes will be the same. They don't see Box B or E data either btw.
Last thing... In investigating this, there may be a way to add back the fees to your cost basis as an investment expense, but I would not assume that the IRS has determined that to be the case. I don't take advantage of any borderline approaches, because I don't want to waste my time on it. If it's borderline this year, I'll wait until it is clarified via testing by others who want to do so.
The above is accurate to my knowledge, although I am not an accountant and don't play one on TV. Consult an accountant if you are paranoid and have excess cash to burn. 😉 Do your own due diligence. Some accountants may not know this stuff in detail, though some do. Money magazine did a study years ago with 30 accountants, giving them reasonably tough, but not ridiculous tax returns to fill out and only 2/30 got everything right! Check your own taxes, because your accountant may be making mistakes. I've seen it more than once and the errors were in the thousands of dollars, because of poor communication with their clients at times and due to lack of knowledge of the accountants at other times.
One tangential real life example. Did you know that accrued interest has to be entered as a line item on your Schedule B as a negative number, or you will be overpaying your taxes if you hold Treasuries/Bonds for which you paid that interest? It's not reported to the IRS on the 1099s, which should be fixed (they collect more taxes because many taxpayers overlook the issue). Check your work and check your accountant's work if you use someone else to file for you. IMO... 😉
