How to handle Gold ETF(IAU) in Turbotax?

[aditya_a]

These ETFs are a royal pain to deal with from a tax perspective. Fortunately, I only invested about 1000$ in them for a month last year. One of my friends warned me about them and I immediately sold them. 

Now, there was a single transaction in my 1099-B which is listed as "UNDETERMINED TERM TRANSACTIONS FOR NONCOVERED TAX LOTS" for the IAU ETF. This I presume is because iShares sold a bunch of gold to cover their expenses.

Date Acquired & Cost Basis is missing.

I have two questions:

1. What should I fill up for "What do you see in box 1b"? There is no column marked "1b" in my 1099 for this transaction. But I assume they are referring to the "Date acquired" column. I have two options in the UI "The date this investment was acquired" or "Something other than a date". If I select "Something other than a date", it gives me two more options "blank" or "various". 
   
   Since on my 1099 form,  the date acquired column for this transaction has "N/A" I tried using "blank"  as the answer for this question. But Turbotax is not letting me file if I select that option. 
   
   I bought two lots of these shares before this transaction's "Date sold". So I am inclined to use the option "various". Is that okay?
   
   2. Can I just fill in the cost basis as 0.0$ for this transaction.  I don't mind paying taxes on a gain of 0.15$ 🙂 Will I get into trouble with the IRS if I do this?
   
   
   

[JohnB5677]

You said the date acquired column for this transaction has "N/A" I tried using "blank"  as the answer for this question. But TurboTax is not letting me file if I select that option. 

• Blanc is only a place holder, the only alternatives are "the Date" or "Various".  In your case, both would work. If this were a more significant transaction I would recommend the date of the purchase of the ETF and enter them as two different transactions.  This would ensure no confusion about long/short holding periods.
• I agree that for $0.15 it is not worth a calculation.

[sujiths80]

I am also in similar boat now. I didn't know the complexity of the tax reporting for GLD ETF so I couldn't sell it last year but I am holding ~20 GLD ETFs. I don't have any 1099B entry for GLD but I got NON−MORTGAGE WIDELY HELD FIXED INVESTMENT TRUSTS (NMWHFIT) ADDITIONAL WRITTEN STATEMENT. Any idea whether I should report this even if I have not sold any GLD ETFs last year. 

[GeorgeM777]

It depends.  Does the NMWHFIT relate to your GLD investment?  If so, what does it say about investors who bought and held their GLD during 2022?  Additionally, did you receive the 2022 Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement for GLD?  Below is a link to that document and this may be the same as the NMWHFIT document that you reference in your post.  

The Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement provides an example of how investors in GLD should report their pro rata sale of GLD that the ETF effects to cover GLD fees.  Page 11 provides an example of what an investor should report on their tax return assuming they bought GLD during the year and held GLD at year end.  This example seems to mirror your situation.  Therefore, review the steps provided in the example on page 11 and apply them to your situation to determine what you should report on your tax return.  Moreover, keep your computations along with the Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement in the event you need to substantiate your calculations.

2022 Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement for GLD

@sujiths80 

[sujiths80]

Thank you very much for the reply. NMWHFIT is related to my GLD investment because I can see the description says  SPDR GOLD TR.  The particular page - NMWHFIT ADDITIONAL WRITTEN STATEMENT doesn't say anything about investors who bought and held their GLD during 2022 but I can see this document captures activity date(which I am assuming the GLD purchase date) and cost basis adj amount. I have purchased GLD every month from fed 2022 so I have 11 entries in the form. I checked the 2022 Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement and I see the calculations. So it appears to me like a calculation for doing cost basis adjustment but still not clear where should I report this in the tax return(which form ?). I understand if I make a sale on GLD , I get 1099B and it is something I can report in the tax return but in this case no 1099 B entry so am I suppose to calculate the cost basis and file it when I sell the GLD stock

Sorry, I am new to GLD investment so I have a hard time to figure out this tax complexity.

[GeorgeM777]

Your gain or loss from GLD is reported on Form 8949, Sales and Other Dispositions of Capital Assets.  In TurboTax, to report your gain or loss from GLD, select Wages & Income, (left margin in TurboTax online) or Personal, then Personal Income (TurboTax CD/download).  Then scroll down the screen to Investment and Savings, (TurboTax online) or Investment Income (TurboTax CD/download).  Select Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, etc. and enter your information in the screens that follow.  

While the Grantor Trust document indicates that you should calculate your gain or loss for each separate purchase, it also says that you can sum up the net reportable gain or loss.  Thus, once you have separately calculated your gain or loss for each of your eleven purchases, you may be able to report the grand total in TurboTax rather than reporting each separate transaction.  When you get to that section of TurboTax where you need to enter the dates of your purchases, if you decide to report just the totals, you can enter various for the dates purchased.

You did not get a 1099-B from GLD, 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, and thus, neither the Trust nor brokers are required to report the gross proceeds of Trust sales to Shareholders on Form 1099B.   Sometimes brokers will report sales of this type on a 1099-B, but given what took place in 2022 for GLD, there was no requirement to send a 1099-B.  

@sujiths80 

[sujiths80]

Thanks a lot GeorgeM777 for the details. Based on what I see in the document, it is a loss −4.95 total. As it is a loss and I am ok to give up this loss, is it a must report this in the tax return ? This tax calculations are killing me as I need to do this calculation for each month for 1.5 GLD stock.

[DianeW777]

You will want to report it.  The IRS will be looking at the gross proceeds which means you will want to show that you actually had a loss and not a gain.  You can choose to enter summary totals if you like. Make sure to separate long term versus short term holding periods and summarize one entry for each, based on what you have.

Long term is a holding period of more than one year and receives capital gain tax treatment (0%, 10%, 15%, 20% depending on your regular rate of tax)

Short term is a holding period of one year or less and receives ordinary gain tax treatment (your regular rate)

You must enter a date acquired, Various will work if you don't have one date).  

• Search (upper right) > type 1099b > Click the Jump to... Link
• Continue to add or edit your sales

[sujiths80]

Hello,

I tried to create an entry in  Investment and Savings, (TurboTax online) or Investment Income (TurboTax CD/download).  Select Stocks, Mutual Funds, Bonds, etc. but In this form I have to fill up Sales section , Total proceeds (sum of all Box 1d),Total cost or other basis (sum of all Box 1e). What am I suppose to fill up here as there was no sale made on the GLD ? Can I just put zero on the sections - Total proceeds (sum of all Box 1d & Total cost or other basis (sum of all Box 1e) and select "I need to adjust my total cost basis"...The put the adjusted cost basis value under "Total adjustments to gain (or loss)" ? Seems like I need to also select the Adjustment codes. Kindly advise

[DaveF1006]

It depends on what you are trying to do?  You wouldn't report the purchase of this unless it was traded on a crypto exchange, If so, here is how to report in the investment section of Turbo Tax.

If you bought the GLD outright, you do not need to report it.

If you traded for it on a crypto exchange, here is how to report.

1. Working in the investment section of the return the  is the amount of GLD that was exchanged for. This is the value of the GLD you received in the exchange.
2. Cost basis is the crypto amount that was given up in the exchange. 
3. If you held on to the original crypto more than one-year, this would be reported as long-term not reported. If you own it for one year or less, it would be short-term not reported.

I stress the importance on not reporting this unless you traded for this as a crypto exchange. If you don't have any records of adjustment codes, leave those blank.

if you are entering these for tracking purposes, you may wish to consider a spreadsheet as this is not required for IRS purposes.

@sujiths80 

[sujiths80]

Hello DaveF1006

Thank you very much for your reply. I have not traded this on crypto exchange. I have purchased one  GLD ETF on the regular stock market from Feb 22 to Nov 22 every month. So I am trying to check whether I need to do anything with the cost basis as mentioned in the above thread or only need to adjust my cost basis when I sell my GLD ETF.

[DaveF1006]

You may need to adjust your cost basis when you sell it because the price of one GLD ETF may be different each month. If this is the case, I would use a spreadsheet to track the cost basis each month and number of shares and when you do sell, you will have an accurate amount to report for a cost basis for all of your shares you have purchased up to a given point in time.

Keep in mind, you are tracking the total cost for all the shares you purchased and this is what will be reported on Schedule D and 8949 once you sell your shares. Also keep in mind, if you sell partial shares, you will use the FIFO method in reporting the shares meaning you will use the cost basis/shares when you first started purchasing your shares of gold.

Meanwhile, don't record any data in  the sales section in your return unless you actually sell some of these shares.  

@sujiths80 

[PT768]

Use this online cost basis calculator tool: https://costbasistools.com/gold/iau.php.

[skyfx]

Hi all,

I'm in a similar situation to @sujiths80. I have owned a robo investing portfolio with Schwab since 2020 which has included iShares Gold Trust (IAU) since that time. In total, the robo portfolio has made 11 purchases of the trust over the years (some in 2020, some in 2021, and some in 2023).

To date, I've always used Schwab's consolidated forms to file my taxes with TT. This year, for the first time, I received a separate "Grantor Trust Tax Reporting Statement" for the trust. Frankly, if the data shown on this statement has to be included on my tax return, I don't understand why I have not received this form in years past. Having said that, if I am understanding the example in the statement correctly, I first need to calculate "my pro rata ownership of gold (in ounces)" using the “Gold Ounces per Share." However, since I don't have a copy of this form for any years except 2023, I don't know how to do this for the purchases the robo portfolio made any other years. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

@DaveF1006 @DianeW777 @GeorgeM777 

EDIT: Digging into this subject a little further, I used https://costbasistools.com/gold/iau.php to calculate the "inception to date totals" for each of the 11 purchases of IAU and put them in a spreadsheet. I then summed the "Sales proceeds of ounces sold" and "Cost Basis of Ounces Sold" for the purchases made pre-2023 (long-term) and purchases made in 2023 (short-term). I entered these as proceeds and cost basis, respectively, as summary totals in TT choosing "long term did not receive 1099-B" and "short term did not receive 1099-B," respectively. Assuming that is the correct way to do this, I'm still confused why I didn't receive this statement in years past. Was the gain/loss amount perhaps too insignificant?

Similarly, why doesn't Schwab just include these values on the 1099-B of their consolidated forms?