Storage and VAT

[artdeco]

Hi all,

I have a technical and experiential question. I've always believed in physical but as I am primarily in SIlver, I really don't want too many more kilos at home for security and convenience. The question: I generally buy from gold.co.uk, they can store (in Switzerland I believe) after purchase. They say £10 per month. Is this for all purchases under your account or would you have to pay £10 for every purchase? Secondly, say I buy a kilo for around a thousand GBP and in 2 years it goes up to £5000. If I sell it back to them at 3% under spot, I don't have to pay any VAT yes? Only if I take delivery I pay VAT, and that would be on the original purchase price not on current value? Responses much appreciated.

[ChrisSilver]

15 minutes ago, artdeco said:

Is this for all purchases under your account or would you have to pay £10 for every purchase?

Fees depend on total of the value of precious metals under storage. You can see their fees explained here: https://www.gold.co.uk/allocated-storage/allocated-fees/ other questions may be best to ask them and then report back with your findings  

You may also wish to check their storage FAQ page here: https://www.gold.co.uk/allocated-storage/allocated-storage-faqs/

[artdeco]

Thanks Chris, that info seems to have been a trifle buried on their site. Seems a bit odd for the purchaser to have to make a contribution to "their" insurance costs, but a contract is a contract.

[ChrisSilver]

6 minutes ago, artdeco said:

Thanks Chris, that info seems to have been a trifle buried on their site. Seems a bit odd for the purchaser to have to make a contribution to "their" insurance costs, but a contract is a contract.

The fees are needed to cover the cost of not only insurance but also I presume; the utilities costs of the secure facility and staff costs, admin costs as well as all other business taxes and other related costs, or costs to a 3rd party (e.g. the company who owns the secure storage facility eg. brinks) I can't comment exactly as to their exact costs as I haven't looked into how their storage works or have access to all of that information. 

Plus do not forget that they are also a business. I do not think you would find a company who offer you long term storage at no cost. You can of course also take delivery in a VAT free country and store yourself in your own selected vaults and pay for your transport of goods and your own insurance, but due to economies of scale I would presume that this would be hard to find a lower cost that what a dealer can offer.

Note that there are other dealers you can also look into for storage, so I would advise you to research throughly before making a decision on who to store with.  

[artdeco]

Thanks, very useful. Generally I am with Rickards on this, in the sense of "it should never be further away than a bicycle ride away" especially when tshtf. I guess my idea of diversification is "maybe put a bit in storage" and if it alleviates a touch on the govt theft (aka VAT) then so be it. Then again when I sell, fiat will be no use, that's why I want physical. Maybe I can get out of my storage PMs before we revert to zero on fiats/the new system. I'd really rather just do deals with physical for other assets, but Switzerland has been around a long time, I reckon  it will survive. I wonder if one can take a bet on that somewhere