Gold futures settled at US$4,168.40 on Monday, 8.0% below the August 28 close of US$4,529.90, according to Investing.com and Investrade. For a taxable investor who bought on that day, the decline is an unrealized capital loss that becomes a deduction only when the position is sold. The last trading day that settles inside the 2026 tax year is Wednesday, December 30, according to Insight Accounting, which leaves 92 days to plan.
The value of that loss is smaller than the headline decline suggests. The capital gains inclusion rate remains 50% for 2026 after the proposed increase to two-thirds was cancelled, according to Aprio, so only half of a net capital loss reduces taxable capital gains. At the top federal rate of 33%, a dollar of realized loss recovers 16.5 cents in federal tax before provincial tax is counted.
Only Non-Registered and Corporate Accounts Produce a Usable Loss
A capital loss is deductible only where the matching gain would have been taxable. Gold held in an RRSP, a RRIF or a TFSA produces no deductible loss, so the planning conversation applies to non-registered accounts and corporate investment accounts. Clients who hold the same gold fund in several account types need the holdings separated by account before anyone sells.
A net capital loss of $10,000 recovers between $700 and $1,650 in federal tax depending on the bracket in which the offsetting gain would have been taxed, a 2.4-fold spread that makes the client bracket the first item to confirm. The figures below apply the 50% inclusion rate to each 2026 federal rate.
Each figure is a $10,000 net capital loss multiplied by the 50% inclusion rate and the federal rate for the bracket, before provincial tax. The loss is assumed to offset a taxable capital gain in the same bracket.
A client whose gains fall in the lowest bracket recovers little federally, while a client in the top bracket recovers more than twice as much on the same loss. That difference decides whether a sale is worth the transaction cost and the time out of the market.
The 61-Day Window Reaches the RRSP, the TFSA and the Spouse
The superficial loss rule denies a loss when the investor or an affiliated person buys identical property during the 61-day period that runs from 30 days before the sale to 30 days after it, according to Insight Accounting. Affiliated persons include a spouse or common-law partner, a corporation the investor controls, and the investor RRSP and TFSA.
The registered-account case is the costly one. A repurchase inside an RRSP or TFSA denies the loss and, unlike a repurchase in a non-registered account, adds nothing back to the adjusted cost base, so the deduction is destroyed rather than deferred. A client who sells a gold fund in a non-registered account and has a scheduled TFSA contribution that buys the same fund within 30 days has lost the deduction for good.
Carrybacks and Currency Change the Answer
Net capital losses can be carried back three years against taxable capital gains on Form T1A or carried forward indefinitely, according to Insight Accounting. A client with taxable gains in a recent year can recover tax already paid instead of waiting for future gains. Gains and losses are calculated in Canadian dollars, so a gold fund bought in U.S. dollars can show a different result from the U.S. dollar price decline alone.
Finance Canada closed its Budget 2026 consultation on September 8 and has not published a release date, so the rules above are current law rather than a forecast. The 92 days to December 30 include a full quarter of market movement, and a loss that exists today may not exist at year-end.