How do I properly report iShares Silver Trust (SLV) ETF on my 1099-B for tax filing?

This is a common confusion with certain ETFs like iShares Silver Trust (SLV) that hold physical commodities. What you're seeing is indeed related to the fund's management expenses. When you own SLV, you're actually owning a small portion of physical silver held in a trust. To cover management fees, the trust periodically sells tiny amounts of silver, which technically means you're "disposing" of a microscopic fraction of your investment. This is why it appears on your 1099-B even though you never actively sold anything. For TurboTax purposes: - "What type of investment did you sell?" - "Mutual fund, Index fund, or ETF" is correct - "Date acquired" should match when you purchased the shares (not necessarily 12/31/2019) - "Date sold or disposed" should be 12/31/2019 as shown on your 1099-B Since the proceeds ($0.21) are exactly equal to the expense ($0.21), this is essentially a wash transaction. The transaction would be considered short-term or long-term based on when you actually purchased the shares relative to the 12/31/2019 disposition date. For most people, these micro-transactions have virtually zero tax impact, but they still need to be reported since they appear on your 1099-B and the IRS receives this information.

Hey there! I had the exact same issue with my SLV holdings last year. I spent hours trying to figure this out until I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which saved me so much time. It can automatically analyze your 1099-B forms and identify these small ETF management fee transactions. I uploaded my 1099-B and it immediately recognized the SLV transactions as fund expense-related disposals, suggesting the correct way to report them as wash transactions. The service explained that these are technically partial dispositions of your holdings that cancel out for tax purposes. The tool also walks you through how to properly enter this in different tax software. Much easier than trying to piece together conflicting advice from random forums!

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and I'm genuinely impressed. I've owned SLV, GLD, and several other ETFs with these tiny transactions for years and always just guessed how to report them. The platform immediately identified all my commodity ETF transactions and explained that these small dispositions are indeed wash transactions related to management fees. It showed exactly how to enter them in TurboTax (which fields to use and what values to enter). What really helped was the explanation of why these transactions occur - the physical silver/gold needs to be sold periodically to pay management fees, creating these micro-dispositions. Apparently this is unique to physical commodity ETFs and different from how regular stock ETFs handle expenses. Definitely worth checking out if you have any commodity ETFs in your portfolio. Saved me from incorrectly reporting these transactions yet again!

If you're still struggling with this after trying the software route, another option is calling the IRS directly. I know, I know - seems impossible to get through to them. I was stuck on a similar ETF reporting issue and spent DAYS trying to get an actual human at the IRS. Finally discovered Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which got me connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours or getting disconnected. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed that these small SLV transactions should be reported as wash transactions with matching proceeds and cost basis. She explained that the IRS systems are designed to match what's on your 1099-B, so skipping these small transactions can sometimes trigger automatic notices even though they have zero tax impact.

I was totally skeptical about that Claimyr service mentioned above, but I was desperate after spending 3+ hours on hold with the IRS trying to get clarity on my commodity ETF reporting issues. I decided to give it a shot, and honestly, I'm still shocked at how well it worked. Got connected to an IRS agent in about 30 minutes. The agent was super helpful about my SLV and other ETF reporting questions. She confirmed exactly what others have said here - these tiny transactions are from the trust selling silver to cover expenses, and they should be reported as wash transactions (same amount for proceeds and cost basis). She also explained that they don't care about the pennies involved but DO care that the transactions are reported since they're matching against what the brokers submit. For anyone struggling with these weird ETF reporting issues, actually speaking with an IRS agent cleared everything up in minutes instead of the hours I spent googling contradictory advice.

A little late to the party, but I think there's some confusion still about what these transactions actually are. These aren't exactly "wash sales" in the technical tax sense. They're partial dispositions. For SLV and similar physical commodity ETFs, the trust actually sells tiny amounts of the metal to pay expenses. So yes, you are actually selling a microscopic portion of your holdings. The correct way to handle this in tax software: 1. Report it as an ETF sale 2. Use the acquisition date of your original purchase 3. For cost basis, you can use either the same amount as the proceeds (creating $0 gain/loss) or proportionally calculate it based on your original purchase price 4. It's short-term or long-term based on how long you owned the shares before 12/31/19 Most tax software struggles with these tiny transactions because they're unusual, but they're becoming more common with commodity ETFs.

Does anyone know if this is handled differently if the SLV is in a Roth IRA instead of a taxable account? I've got the same tiny transactions showing up but they're in my retirement account. Do I even need to report these at all?

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I've been dealing with similar SLV reporting issues for years and never understood what those tiny transactions meant. One additional tip for anyone using TurboTax specifically - when you get to the section asking about "Date acquired," make sure you use the actual date you purchased your SLV shares, not the 12/31 disposal date. I made this mistake initially and it threw off the short-term vs long-term classification. Also, if you have multiple purchases of SLV throughout the year, these expense transactions typically use a "first in, first out" (FIFO) method to determine which specific shares are being disposed of for expense purposes. So if you bought SLV in March and again in August, the December expense transaction would likely be attributed to your March purchase. The good news is that regardless of which shares are technically disposed of, the tax impact is still essentially zero since the proceeds equal the proportional cost basis. But getting the dates right helps ensure everything matches up properly with your broker's records.