Gold closed at $4,280.98 an ounce on September 25, roughly 23% below the intraday record of $5,589.38 set on January 28, 2026. For investors who bought into that January spike, this is the first year in recent memory with real losses to harvest before the December 31 deadline.
It is also the year to understand a quirk most metals investors never encounter: repurchasing through a retirement account does not postpone a disallowed loss. It destroys it.
The Normal Wash Sale Is a Delay, Not a Loss
Under Internal Revenue Code §1091, if you sell a security at a loss and buy a substantially identical one within 30 days before or after the sale — a 61-day window counting the sale date — the deduction is disallowed. In an ordinary taxable-account wash sale, that is merely a timing setback. Section 1091(d) adds the disallowed loss to the basis of the replacement shares, and the old holding period tacks on. You recover the benefit when you eventually sell.
The IRA Version Is Permanent
Revenue Ruling 2008-5 addressed a taxpayer who sold stock at a loss and had his IRA buy the same stock the next day. The IRS holding is blunt: "The loss on the Sale of stock is disallowed under § 1091. A's basis in the individual retirement account or Roth IRA is not increased by virtue of § 1091(d)."
That second sentence is the trap. Because you generally have basis in an IRA only to the extent of nondeductible contributions, there is nowhere for the disallowed loss to go. No basis step-up, no future offset. The deduction simply disappears. Fidelity describes the result plainly: in an IRA, "the disallowed loss is effectively forfeited, not deferred."
Physical Metal Sits Outside the Rule
Section 1091 applies to "stock or securities." Physical bullion and coins are property, not securities, so the wash sale rule does not reach them — you can sell bullion at a loss and rebuy immediately. Mining shares and mining-sector funds are unambiguously securities and are squarely covered. Bullion-backed ETFs organized as grantor trusts occupy contested ground: their gains are taxed under the collectibles rules at a 28% maximum long-term rate, and whether §1091 applies to them remains unsettled. Treat that gap as a reason for professional advice, not a green light.
Practical Takeaways
- Do not pair a taxable loss sale with a gold IRA purchase. If you sell a metals security at a loss in your brokerage account, keep your IRA and Roth IRA out of that security for the full 61 days.
- Check your spouse's accounts. The IRS treats a purchase by one spouse of a security the other sold at a loss as a wash sale.
- Do not rely on your 1099-B. Brokers are not required to catch wash sales that span different accounts, and you must report one even when it is not on the form.
- Sequence the trade. Harvesting the loss first and adding to the IRA after the window closes preserves both the deduction and the allocation.
Sources: IRS Revenue Ruling 2008-5, Fidelity, USAGold, WealthManagement.com, Green Trader Tax