Tax on Bullion Sales (UK)

[Brazil2001]

Hi everyone!

ive has a good look through the topics and cannot find a tax topic...

I have to say the photos of all these stacks has really impressed me but how do people get round all the tax laws? Especially CGT? UK gold coins are obviously both VAT and CGT free and as such I sold all my Silver stack sometime ago to mitigate these circumstances but looking at some of the photos there are people with huge sums in silver and gold bullion bars which are not CGT free etc or do people just not worry about these things?

i will say I’m hugely impressed by this community though I’m massively into finance and currently re training to become an IFA and as such I would recommend everyone looks at precious metals it’s something we do poorly here in the UK so it’s good to see this group owning proper ‘money’ not just fiat currency!

[trp]

CGT exempt status doesn’t just apply to Gold coins, it covers certain silver ones too that carry legal tender status in the U.K.  

There is a CGT Allowance, which if I remember correctly is currently £12,000 per year, so you’d have to sell a lot of silver in a year to be affected. Obviously it would be far easier and far quicker to break that allowance with a smaller amount in gold. 

34 minutes ago, Brazil2001 said:

silver and gold bullion bars which are not CGT free etc or do people just not worry about these things?

I wouldn’t worry about that personally, as items that I own that aren’t CGT Exempt don’t exceed the threshold...and besides that even if they were, who’s to say I’d ever want to sell them!  

[Seth]

I honestly don't think that people's exposure to CGT yet alone VAT is brought up and talked about nearly as much as it should be here, especially considering that people are using gold and silver as a means to save/invest/preserve wealth/speculate.  I honestly think quite a few members are going to be in for a nasty tax shock when they decide to retire sell of their stack of silver and they find out just how much of their stack is not exempt from CGT.

[trp]

3 hours ago, Seth said:

I honestly think quite a few members are going to be in for a nasty tax shock when they decide to retire sell of their stack of silver and they find out just how much of their stack is not exempt from CGT.

Especially as retirement or releasing what they hold could be a way off for some and as we all know, nothing is certain - rules/laws can change. 

[Martlet]

From current price, if value doubled you'd need to sell about 800 oz silver to hit the CGT allowance and begin to pay tax.  Nice problem to have, though reckon storage is larger concern for most. 

[sovereignsteve]

33 minutes ago, Martlet said:

From current price, if value doubled you'd need to sell about 800 oz silver to hit the CGT allowance and begin to pay tax.  Nice problem to have, though reckon storage is larger concern for most. 

800 oz isn't that big, especially if in mint tubes

[Brazil2001]

@trp yes CGT is currently £12000.

The tax laws are simple if it’s a legal tender coin and can be spent in a shop then it is CGT free but it has to be a UK coin. Only gold is VAT free and only British gold currency coins are both VAT and CGT free. From the photos many people have bars and coins from all over the world very nice hand poured bullion etc etc which they seem to saving for retirement in the future, and whilst this is an awesome idea a life times saving of bullion will add up to some big sums at which point CGT could become a huge problem. Imagine the shock you will get when you sell your 50 Canadian gold 1oz maple leaves and then get a tax bill for 20% and realise that had you had 1oz gold Britannia’s it would have mitigated this problem? 

[trp]

15 minutes ago, Brazil2001 said:

Imagine the shock you will get when you sell your 50 Canadian gold 1oz maple leaves and then get a tax bill for 20% and realise that had you had 1oz gold Britannia’s it would have mitigated this problem? 

I think people generally do have this realisation and are quite savvy with what they buy - at least by some of the other posts and threads I’ve read on this forum. It’s probably the collector/hoarder in people that gets them in trouble! (I know it does with me from time to time) 

There are some great full stack photos/videos, but they aren’t necessarily from the U.K. and they probably have a different outlook depending on where they are. 

[Brazil2001]

@trp is the Silver forum not just based on the UK then? That does explain a lot... 

[ChrisSilver]

14 minutes ago, Brazil2001 said:

@trp is the Silver forum not just based on the UK then? That does explain a lot... 

Yes it is a worldwide forum with members currently  from 89 different countries. Top 4 countries currently are currently UK, USA, Canada, Germany. 

Also our slogan, as seen in our logo at the top and advertising: "The world's precious metals forum"

I have edited your title, so that it is clearer for non UK members.  

[Brazil2001]

@ChrisSilver so obvious when you point it out honestly cannot believe I missed that... just made this site even more worthy in my mind fantastic to have such a community 

[Seth]

On 05/03/2020 at 08:24, Martlet said:

From current price, if value doubled you'd need to sell about 800 oz silver to hit the CGT allowance and begin to pay tax.  Nice problem to have, though reckon storage is larger concern for most. 

300 kilograms of silver - in a mixture of tubes, capsules and boxed proofs, takes up just over 1.5 cubic feet of space, it's not enough space to worry about, just one of my SJ 200 takes up more space than that.