Gold (GC=F), long dismissed by critics as a dusty cover for doomsday preparers, is dominating again. On March 2, 2026, it surpassed $5,300 per ounce, surpassing even aggressive price targets.
The rise came after a difficult start to the year: geopolitical tensions, the US-Israel-Iran war and the fallout from the recent Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s tariff powers may have contributed to the continued push into hard assets.
If you have been in possession of gold, the streak has been extraordinary. In the last five years, prices have risen 200%. If we go back to 2006, we will see gains of over 830%. That’s life-changing money for anyone who stays the course.
But if you plan to profit from this rally, be warned. The IRS does not treat gold the same way it treats Apple stock. In fact, selling gold can result in a much higher tax bill than you might expect.
Read more: How to invest in gold in 4 steps
Yes, the IRS treats gold as a capital asset, meaning any profit you make from selling it is considered taxable income.
But how you are taxed depends on how long you hold your gold before selling it.
The IRS considers physical gold to be a collectible, so it faces a different tax structure than stocks.
However, you won’t really notice this rule for short-term capital gains on gold because the taxes are similar to those on stocks.
If you sell gold within a year of purchasing it, you will have to pay ordinary income tax on any gains. (Same tax treatment as shares).
But if you own physical gold for more than a year and sell it at a profit, the chargeable tax rate comes into effect. Now, your gold gain is taxed again at your ordinary income rate, but only up to a maximum of 28%.
Here’s how that plays out:
-
If you are in the 10%, 12%, 22%, or 24% ordinary income bracket (also known as your tax bracket), your long-term gold gain is taxed at the same rate.
-
If you are in the 32%, 35% or 37% group, you do not pay that rate; is limited to 28%.
This differs from the treatment of long-term capital gains from stocks, which are taxed at a rate of 0%, 15% or 20%.
Read more: Who decides how much gold is worth? How gold prices are determined.
Many investors avoid storing physical bullion and prefer to purchase exchange-traded funds such as SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) or iShares Gold Trust (IAU).
They trade like stocks, settle like stocks, and sit neatly alongside stocks in your brokerage account. But from a tax perspective, gold ETFs are not the same as stocks.
Because some of the most popular gold ETFs, including GLD and IAU, hold the physical metal in a vault on your behalf, you are treated as if you own the physical gold. That means the same collectible tax rules apply:
So while ETFs seem simpler, they don’t solve the tax problem.
However, not all gold ETFs are physically backed. Some have futures or options contracts, which are taxed under a different set of rules. That said, most major gold ETFs, including those mentioned above, are structured as grantor trusts and are therefore subject to collectible tax rate rules.
Of course, this tax treatment applies only to gold ETFs held in a taxable brokerage account and sold at a profit. It does not apply to investors who hold gold ETFs in a tax-advantaged retirement account, such as an IRA.
More information: Gold IRA: Benefits, Risks, and How It’s Different from a Traditional IRA
Shares of gold mining companies, such as Newmont Corporation (NEM) or Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), are taxed like any other stock. Your rate depends on how long you hold them before selling them.
-
Short-term capital gain (held for less than a year): taxed at your ordinary income rate.
-
Long-term capital gains (held for a year or more): Taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on your adjusted gross income.
-
0%: up to $48,350 for single taxpayers; $96,700 for married filing jointly.
-
15%: up to $533,400 for single taxpayers; $600,050 for married filers.
-
20%: More than $533,400 for single taxpayers; more than $600,050 for married filers.
-
Of course, mining stocks carry company-specific risks that bullion does not. It is trading tax efficiency for exposure to the broader boom-and-bust cycles that tend to affect commodity producers.
If you don’t report a gold sale and the IRS later discovers it, you’re not simply paying back taxes. You are also considering penalties and interest.
Read more: Are you thinking of buying gold? Here’s what investors should keep in mind.
In some cases, when you sell certain quantities or types of bullion to a dealer, the dealer must file Form 1099-B with the IRS.
Reporting thresholds vary by product and volume, but significant sales are often reported. For example, selling 25 or more 1-ounce Krugerrands or Maple Leafs can generate reports.
Still, reporting doesn’t always happen automatically, said Tommy Lucas, certified financial planner and registered agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Orlando.
“A dealer doesn’t send out a tax form to report every sale,” Lucas said. “It’s essentially an honor system and self-reporting.”
But that doesn’t mean you’re free from responsibility. “If it’s a significant amount and you don’t declare it, you could be subject to heavy penalties,” Lucas added.
Even if a dealer does not issue a 1099-B, you are still legally required to report your profit. The responsibility lies with you, not the dealer. “The IRS will probably look at things more if something seems wrong,” Lucas said. “It usually comes up if you get audited.”
The dealer must report any cash transactions over $10,000 on Form 8300.
Trying to break down big sales into smaller chunks to stay below that reporting threshold (a process known as structuring) is risky. Financial institutions must monitor suspicious activity, and structured transactions can raise red flags.
Even if you think a sale might go unnoticed, Lucas believes it’s better to be safe than sorry. “I wouldn’t take any chances and would be more cautious in those cases,” he said.
If you sell gold at a profit in a taxable account, the IRS wants its cut. The good news is that there are some legal ways to defer or potentially eliminate taxes on gold earnings, especially if you use the right account.
A specific type of self-directed IRA, sometimes called a gold IRA, is a legal way to protect gold from immediate capital gains taxes.
There are two different types of IRAs:
-
A traditional gold IRA: Taxes are deferred until you start taking distributions in retirement, and those withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income rather than capital gains.
-
A Gold Roth IRA: Contributions are made with after-tax money and qualified withdrawals in retirement are completely tax-free.
A self-directed IRA allows you to hold physical gold and other alternative assets, although it comes with strict rules about storage and purity of the metal.
That deferral can be powerful, but it cuts both ways depending on your tax bracket.
“If you’re super high and you make ordinary income by selling gold in an IRA and withdrawing it, you’ll be subject to those 32%, 35% or 37% rates,” Lucas said. “If you had the same gold outside of a retirement account, you could have sold it at 28%.”
In other words, a traditional gold IRA doesn’t automatically mean a lower tax bill. It simply changes when and how taxes are paid.
Using a Roth account may be a more effective option. In a Roth gold IRA, you could have bought gold for $2,000 and sold it for $5,300 today without owing a single cent to the IRS upon withdrawal.
More information: How much gold would a million dollars buy at different times in history?
Still, these accounts are not simple plug-and-play solutions, Lucas explained: “From a cost and complexity standpoint, there’s a lot more going on with gold IRAs than there is with opening a brokerage account and buying ETFs.”
If you make a large profit selling gold, you can intentionally sell other assets at a loss in the same tax year to reduce some or all of that profit.
This approach, known as tax-loss harvesting, is a widely used strategy.
Losses between investments are combined before the final tax bill is calculated. So if you make a $100,000 profit on collectible gold and then sell some shares at a loss, that will offset it, Lucas said.
“If you have a gain of $100,000 on gold and a short-term capital loss of $10,000 on a share, your net capital gain is $90,000,” he explained.
That same concept applies whether the profit came from physical gold, a gold ETF, or another capital asset.
An important nuance to take into account: once everything is netted, the remaining profit maintains its tax nature. So if you’re offsetting a gain on physical gold that’s taxed at the collectibles rate, the remaining net gain will follow those rules, Lucas said. If you are offsetting gains from a gold ETF taxed with short-term capital gains rates, the remaining net gain follows that structure.
You can also reduce your taxable gain on physical gold by adding the costs of “buying, holding and selling” to your basis. This may include dealer premiums, commissions, shipping and insurance.
These expenses increase your cost base. A higher cost basis reduces the amount of taxable profits when you finally sell.
Here is an example:
-
I bought gold at $2,000 an ounce.
-
Paid $100 in premiums and fees.
-
Sold for $5,300.
Your profit per ounce is $5,300 – $2,100 = $3,200. That $3,200 is what is taxed, not the entire sales price. And by documenting your expenses, you help reduce your taxable income by $100.
Keep detailed records of all related expenses, along with purchase and sale documentation, so everything is accurately reported at tax time.
Yes. Any profit made from the sale of gold is considered a capital gain. Whether it’s physical bullion, coins, or a physically backed ETF, the law requires you to report profits (or losses) to the IRS.
Taxes generally cannot be eliminated on a standard taxable sale. But you may be able to reduce or postpone them by holding them for more than a year, using retirement accounts, offsetting gains against losses, or using advanced charitable giving strategies.
Yes. Capital gains must be reported on your federal tax return, usually on Schedule D of Form 1040. Even if your dealer does not issue a 1099-B, the legal responsibility for reporting the income falls on you, the taxpayer.