Which Bullion Sales Trigger a 1099-B: The IRS Reportable Items List Explained

How Form 1099-B Works in a Precious Metals Transaction

Form 1099-B is familiar to anyone with a brokerage account: the firm records every security sale and sends a summary each January. Precious metals work under a different version of the same rule. When you sell physical bullion to a coin shop or precious metals dealer, the dealer may be required to file a 1099-B with the IRS reporting what they paid you. You are the seller; the dealer is the buyer who becomes the reporting party under IRS regulations.

This reporting requirement flows from Internal Revenue Code Section 6045, which governs broker and barter exchange transactions. Precious metals dealers who buy from the public fall within the scope of these rules for a specific category of products and quantities. The practical result is that some sales create a paper trail the IRS receives directly through the dealer’s filing. For other sales, no third-party report reaches the IRS. Your own tax reporting obligation is identical in both cases.

The 1099-B the dealer files does not calculate your tax. It reports the gross proceeds paid to you. You then subtract your cost basis from those proceeds to reach a gain or loss, and report the net amount on your own return. If a dealer filed a 1099-B and you omit the matching sale from your return, the IRS automated matching program will flag the discrepancy.

The Reportable Bullion Items List

The IRS and the precious metals industry have established a specific list of products and transaction quantities that trigger a dealer-filed Form 1099-B. The thresholds below reflect longstanding regulatory guidance under IRC Section 6045 and associated Treasury regulations, and have been applied by industry compliance programs for decades. Verify the current rules with your dealer or a tax professional before completing a large sale, since the regulatory framework can be amended and dealer practices vary.

A few points the table does not capture. A “transaction” is generally interpreted as a single sale event, not an accumulation across multiple visits or invoices on different days. The one-kilogram threshold for bars applies per individual bar: two 500-gram bars sold together may be treated differently under the rule than a single kilo bar, though the distinction is best confirmed with the specific dealer. Coin thresholds are per coin type: selling 15 Krugerrands and 15 Maple Leafs in the same visit may not cross either threshold individually, even though the combined quantity exceeds 25.

Industry compliance guidance on this list has historically been published by the Industry Council for Tangible Assets (ICTA), which worked with member dealers to apply the Section 6045 regulatory framework in practice. ICTA guidance has served as the de facto compliance reference for dealer programs across the precious metals trade.

Products Not on the Reportable List

The most significant exclusion from dealer reporting requirements is American Eagles. American Gold Eagle coins, American Silver Eagle coins, and American Gold Buffalo coins are not on the current reportable list. This exclusion applies regardless of quantity sold. Selling 500 American Silver Eagles to a dealer in a single transaction does not trigger a dealer-filed 1099-B under the current framework.

This exemption has made Eagles a preferred product for investors who want to minimize the third-party paper trail around their sale. A transaction that generates no 1099-B creates no immediate IRS visibility from the dealer’s side. That is a real difference in dealer reporting obligations; it is not a difference in your tax obligation, which exists independently of any dealer filing (see the next section).

Other products that do not appear on the standard reportable list include most foreign sovereign coins other than the three named above, fractional gold coins in any denomination from any mint, and silver rounds from private mints. Platinum and palladium coins and bars are also not on the standard list. For any product not explicitly covered by the table, confirm the current treatment directly with the dealer, since dealer compliance practices differ and the regulatory picture can shift.

No 1099-B Does Not Mean No Tax

This is the single most important point in this guide. A dealer’s obligation to file a report and your obligation to pay taxes on a gain are two separate legal matters. A bullion sale that produces no Form 1099-B is not a tax-free transaction.

The IRS classifies physical precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, as “collectibles” under the Internal Revenue Code. Short-term gains on collectibles held one year or less are taxed at ordinary income rates, which top out at 37% federally in 2025. Long-term gains on collectibles held more than one year face a maximum federal rate of 28% under IRC Section 1(h)(4). That 28% ceiling is higher than the 15% or 20% long-term rate that applies to most stocks and equity ETFs. This collectibles rate applies whether or not your dealer filed a 1099-B and whether or not the products involved were American Eagles, junk silver, or any other item.

To calculate your taxable gain: subtract your adjusted cost basis (the price you paid for the metal, including any dealer premium and shipping fees you paid at time of purchase) from your net proceeds (what the dealer paid you at sale). If you purchased 25 Krugerrands for $45,000 and later sold them for $62,000, your long-term capital gain is $17,000, taxable at up to 28% at the federal level. That transaction belongs on Form 8949 regardless of whether the dealer filed a 1099-B. For a comprehensive look at the full tax picture when selling gold or silver, see our guide to taxes when you sell gold.

Omitting an unreported bullion gain from your tax return is a tax underreporting issue even when no 1099-B exists. The IRS has other audit mechanisms for bullion transactions, including currency transaction reports from banks and dealer audit programs. Consult your tax advisor for guidance specific to your situation.

Form 8300 and the $10,000 Cash Rule

Form 8300 and Form 1099-B serve different purposes and are routinely confused with each other.

Form 8300 (Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business) is filed by any business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction or in related transactions. For precious metals dealers, the most common scenario is a customer paying cash to buy metals. If you walk into a dealer and pay $12,000 cash for silver bars, the dealer owes a Form 8300 filing under 26 U.S.C. § 6050I and 31 U.S.C. § 5331. The threshold is based on cash received, not on the dollar value of the metal itself.

Form 1099-B, by contrast, is triggered by product type and quantity when a dealer buys metals from a customer, with no cash-amount threshold involved. A dealer can owe a 1099-B on a $3,000 check payment for 25 Krugerrands and no Form 8300, or can owe a Form 8300 on a $12,000 cash payment for Silver Eagles and no 1099-B, or can owe both simultaneously on a sufficiently large cash purchase of reportable bullion items. The two forms operate independently, both of them flowing from separate federal statutes. For a detailed look at cash purchasing rules, see our guide to buying gold with cash and Form 8300.

Structuring Payments Is a Federal Crime

Some sellers attempt to divide a large transaction into smaller pieces to stay under the $10,000 Form 8300 threshold. This practice is called “structuring,” and it is a federal crime under 31 U.S.C. § 5324, regardless of whether the money involved comes from lawful sources.

The statute does not require proof of intent to evade taxes. The criminal act is deliberately breaking up a transaction to avoid a reporting threshold, period. Penalties include criminal fines and up to five years in federal prison. The IRS and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) identify structuring through bank Suspicious Activity Reports and dealer compliance reviews.

Spreading a sale across multiple dealer visits in the same week, or visiting three dealers the same day with the goal of keeping each transaction under $10,000, constitutes structuring if the purpose is to avoid the reporting requirement. The straightforward approach is to complete the transaction in one event, let the dealer file whatever reports the law requires, and report your capital gain accurately on your federal return. Transparency here protects you; evasion creates a separate and serious legal exposure.

How to Report Your Capital Gains: Form 8949 and Schedule D

Every bullion sale belongs on your federal tax return, whether or not a dealer filed a 1099-B. If you have sold metals and kept good purchase records, reporting is mechanical. If your records are incomplete, reconstructing your cost basis before filing is essential.

1. Complete Form 8949. Enter each sale on its own line: date acquired, date sold, gross proceeds, adjusted cost basis, and any adjustments. If your dealer filed a 1099-B, use Box A, B, or C on Form 8949 to indicate whether basis was also reported to the IRS. If no 1099-B was filed, use Box C.
2. Transfer totals to Schedule D. Net gains and losses from Form 8949 flow into Schedule D, which separates short-term positions (held one year or less) from long-term positions (held more than one year).
3. Apply the collectibles rate. Long-term gains on physical precious metals face a maximum 28% federal rate, not the 15% or 20% rate that applies to most equity investments. Short-term precious metals gains are taxed as ordinary income at your applicable bracket.
4. Account for state rules. Several states tax or exempt precious metals gains differently from the federal treatment. Our state bullion tax guide maps state-level rules, though note that state income tax treatment and state sales tax rules are distinct frameworks.

IRS Publication 550 (Investment Income and Expenses) and the Schedule D instructions cover the mechanics of reporting. For situations involving gold inherited from an estate, coins purchased across many years at different price points, or a distribution from a self-directed IRA, the calculation is more complex. Consult your tax advisor before filing. Nothing in this guide is tax or legal advice specific to your situation.

For detailed guidance on organizing purchase records and reconstructing basis when documentation is incomplete, see our cost basis tracking guide for physical gold.

Gold IRAs and a Different Reporting Framework

If you hold gold or silver inside a self-directed IRA, the 1099-B rules described in this guide do not apply to your IRA transactions. Inside a traditional gold IRA, the custodian holds legal title to the metal on behalf of the IRA. When the IRA sells metal, the transaction occurs within the tax-deferred structure and is not reported on Form 8949 for the year of the sale.

Distributions from a traditional gold IRA are instead reported on Form 1099-R and taxed as ordinary income in the year you take the distribution, at your applicable income tax bracket. The 28% collectibles rate does not apply to IRA distributions; those are taxed at ordinary income rates regardless of the asset inside the account. A Roth gold IRA follows different rules: qualified distributions are tax-free because contributions were made with after-tax dollars.

Rolling over an existing 401(k) or IRA into a gold IRA is a tax-deferred event when completed correctly through a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer or an indirect rollover within the 60-day window. If you are considering adding physical gold to your retirement portfolio through a self-directed IRA structure, Augusta Precious Metals walks clients through the full custodian and depository process as part of their onboarding. Request an Augusta information kit to get specifics on their custodian relationships, storage arrangements, and fee structure. Always consult a tax advisor before making decisions about IRA rollovers or contributions; we are not financial advisors and nothing here constitutes investment or tax advice.