The short answer is yes — and at a rate most people guess wrong. Physical gold and silver are not taxed like stocks. The IRS treats them as collectibles, and that single classification changes the number on your return.
Why gold is taxed differently from a stock
Sell an index fund you have held for more than a year and your long-term capital gain is taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on income. Sell a gold coin you have held for more than a year and the long-term rate is the collectibles rate, capped at 28%.
That is the whole surprise. Same holding period, same paper gain, materially different tax. Nothing about owning the metal is wrong — it just should not come as news in the year you sell.
Hold for a year or less and it is simpler and often worse: the gain is ordinary income, taxed at your marginal rate.
Your cost basis is more than what the metal cost
This is where people leave money on the table. Basis is not the spot price on the day you bought. It is what you actually paid, which includes:
- the premium over spot — the dealer’s markup, often the largest single component after the metal itself
- dealer commissions and transaction fees
- shipping and insured delivery
- certification or grading fees, if any
Every one of those raises your basis, and a higher basis means a smaller taxable gain. If you bought a coin at a 6% premium and only record the spot price, you have overstated your gain by that premium and will pay tax on money you never made.
The practical consequence: keep the invoice. Not the amount — the invoice, showing the premium separately. Years later it is the difference between a defensible basis and a guess.
Owning the metal directly
Buying bullion outright is a different decision from a metals IRA
An IRA gives you the tax shelter and takes back control: a custodian holds the metal, there are annual fees, and distribution rules decide when you can touch it. Buying outright inverts that — no custodian, no annual fee, no age rules, and no tax shelter either. Storage and insurance become yours. Neither is the right answer in general; they answer different questions.
If outright ownership is what fits, the thing that decides what you actually pay is the premium over spot — not the headline price.
- Compare premium over spot per ounce, which is the real cost of the transaction
- Check the buy-back spread before you buy — the price you can sell at is the half nobody quotes you
- Common bullion coins and bars carry lower premiums than anything sold as collectible or graded
- Storage and insurance are real recurring costs; a home safe is a decision, not a saving
- Metal held outright has no reporting shelter — gains are still taxable when you sell
Bullion.com is a precious metals dealer, not a broker or adviser, and we have no view on what price is a good entry. This is an affiliate link — we may earn a commission on a purchase, at no cost to you, and it does not change what we recommend. Full disclosure.
When the dealer reports your sale
Some sales of precious metals are reported to the IRS by the dealer on Form 1099-B. Which ones depends on the specific product and quantity, and the rules are narrower than most people assume — certain bars and certain coin types above certain quantities trigger reporting, while many common bullion coins do not.
Two things worth being clear about, because they are widely misunderstood:
- A sale not reported on a 1099-B is still taxable. Reporting and liability are different questions. The absence of a form is not the absence of a gain.
- The thresholds are product-specific and have changed over time. Ask your dealer, in writing, whether a particular sale is reportable before you transact — do not rely on a general article, including this one, for a current threshold.
What is not a taxable event
Holding metal that has appreciated creates no tax. There is no annual mark-to-market on bullion sitting in a safe or a depository. The tax arrives when you sell, and not before.
Worth knowing: the wash-sale rule that stops you claiming a loss on a stock you rebuy within 30 days applies to securities. Collectibles are not securities, so that particular restriction does not reach them. That is a narrow point and not a strategy — but it is a real difference from the equity side of a portfolio.
Metal inside an IRA is a different question entirely
Everything above concerns metal you own outright. Metal held inside a precious metals IRA follows retirement account rules instead: no tax on gains inside the account, and distributions taxed according to whether the account is traditional or Roth. The 28% collectibles rate does not apply to a properly held IRA position.
Which means the two routes answer different questions, and the tax treatment is one of the honest reasons to prefer one over the other.
Records worth keeping
- Purchase invoices showing metal cost and premium separately
- Dates of purchase — the one-year line decides your rate
- Storage and insurance costs, which may matter for basis in some circumstances
- Any 1099-B you receive, matched to the sale it belongs to
The mistake that costs the most
Not the rate. The basis. People remember roughly what gold was worth when they bought and reconstruct a number years later, usually understating what they paid and overstating the gain. The 28% cap gets the attention; sloppy basis records cost more.
This is general information, not tax advice for your situation. Collectibles taxation interacts with your total income, your state, and how the metal was acquired — a conversation with a professional about your own return is worth more than any article.
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