If you own a few index ETFs in a brokerage account, a new IRS notice includes a sentence written with you in mind. On September 28, 2026, the Treasury Department and the IRS released Notice 2026-62. It goes after a small group of engineered deals that ride on the same machinery that makes ETFs tax-efficient.
Short answer: the notice says it leaves alone the routine share creation and redemption that keeps ETF capital gains distributions low. The exposure belongs to investors who moved appreciated stock into an ETF through planned transactions that the agencies describe as “novel investment fund strategies”.