Filing Taxes on Commodities Trading
By Chuck Kowalsk
January 12, 2019
Every year that you trade commodities, you will have to claim any profits on your taxes. Do not despair; it should be a painless process once you know the forms you need to use.
This piece provides a quick summary of taxation issues when it comes to commodity trading and then walks you through an example of calculations for your tax return.
Typical Filing Examples
Let’s presume you traded futures all year, and you estimate you made a $5,000 profit for the year. To make certain, you wait to receive your 1099-B Form from your broker. This is probably titled 1099-B Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions. It will list your profits and losses for the year.
You will then need to use an IRS Form 6781: Gains and Losses From Section 1256 Contracts and Straddles. Commodities and futures are considered 1256 Contracts for IRS purposes. On line 1 you will enter your gains and losses from the 1099-B Form. Continue the form where you add the profits and losses to get a final number. For example, this number may be a profit of $5,000. Commodities are marked to market at the end of the year. This means that even if you have open positions, they will be calculated as profits and losses as if they were closed positions using the price on the final day of the year.
Now, you have to calculate the capital gains. Commodities have a slightly more preferential tax treatment than stocks. With commodities, 60% of the gains are treated as long-term capital gains and 40% are treated as short-term capital gains. It does not matter the amount of time you held the contracts, this is how they are taxed. With stocks, anything held less than 12 months is considered short-term capital gains and taxed at whatever rate is appropriate for your tax bracket. Long-term capital gains are capped at 15%, which is much more favorable to those with higher incomes.
Follow lines 8 and 9 and calculate your capital gains. In this example, on line 8 you would multiply 5,000 x 40% = $2,000. On line 9, you would multiply $5,000 x 60% = $3,000. You then plug these numbers into your Schedule D Form – Capital Gains and Losses. After the Schedule D worksheet is completed you transfer the numbers to your 1040 Form and you are done!
There are some more in-depth issues that pertain filing taxes for commodity trading, but I will just give you a quick overview. The above information for taxes on commodities should cover most people who do not strictly trade for a living.
Trader Tax Status
There are some favorable issues for those who can claim trader tax status. To qualify for trader tax status, you must be a full-time trader, not a part-time trader who doesn’t trade every day and has a full-time job.
With a trader tax status, you can claim your losses and “business” expenses as ordinary losses and they can be deducted directly from your income. Also, the losses are not subject to the maximum of $3,000 in capital losses. Another great advantage is that if you made a lot of money trading in the previous year and lost a lot in the following year, you can go back and amend the previous year by deducting those huge losses. This allows you to get a refund from the previous year where you had paid a lot of taxes.
Tax Policy Can Change Consult a Professional
Always keep in mind that tax policy can change on the Federal and local level. Therefore, it is always wise to consult a tax professional who is a CPA to assist you in preparing and filing returns to make sure that you are in full compliance with the law while taking advantage of all benefits allowed under the tax code.
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