Precious metals and taxes in the EU. by rolf.bakker

steemsilvergold · @rolf.bakker · Mar 7 '18 (edited)

$1.94

Precious metals and taxes in the EU.

In my last posts where I was talking about the silver and gold prices in the Euro zone, I got some reactions that in Europe these metals are heavily taxed with VAT and therefore maybe not that attractive to buy.

This is not correct. There are fiscal rules with regards to platinum and silver in the EU but let me explain.

![CCB81D81-DF08-44F4-8676-C6B968C3A73B.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfN5VfHN4VrWqqQHJzXQ5RL7kfozyz85kBnHJw69QnqRt/CCB81D81-DF08-44F4-8676-C6B968C3A73B.jpeg)

On October 17, 1998, a law was made in the European Union that investmentgold, like bars with a purity of at least 99.5% are completely exempt from VAT. Also gold coins with a purity of at least 90% and minted after 1800 are exempted.

The reason behind this law is that the European Union basically stimulates gold as a financial instrument.

Before this law there were different fiscal rules in various European countries. Some did charge VAT on gold, others didn’t.
To harmonize these fiscal rules in Euro zone, they decided to cut these VAT rules so free traffic of capital could be realized.

So there is no VAT charged on bullion gold in the Eurozone!

Silver and Platinum is treated differently.

These metals are seen as industrial material, whereas gold has little industrial applications and is more seen as a financial instrument.

Silver and platinum bars are charged with the highest VAT rate (21% in The Netherlands).

However if you buy silver bars and store them in a VAT exempt vault in Germany or Switzerland, you do not have to pay VAT as long as you leave them there.
There are companies who can help you with this, like Goldrepublic, Bullionvault and others.
You can trade with this silver, as long as they remain in these VAT exempted vaults.

However, silver and platinum coins are treated differently!!!

![56459443-678F-468F-BA1E-D2A517D0ED8D.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPXyrqhtGibcizFPseUbEzCM7e65JHcNir7bj1PjWNXbX/56459443-678F-468F-BA1E-D2A517D0ED8D.jpeg)

They are falling under a so-called margin regulation.

This means that the VAT only applies to the margin, profit or premium, a coindealer is charging you.

For example if you buy a 1 ounce silver coin:

If the silverprice is 15.00 per ounce, and the coin is sold with a premium of 25%, you have to pay 21% over 3.75 (the premium) which is 0.79.

So the total amount of VAT = EUR 0.79!!

The total amount you have to pay is:

EUR 15.00 (marketprice) + 3.75 (premium) + 0.79 (VAT) = EUR 19.54 for the silver coin of 1 ounce.

This is the reason why I mostly buy silver coins instead of bars.

If I do buy silver bars, I never buy the from bullion dealers who charge 21% VAT, but at auctions or from persons.

I hope that I gave some clearance on this story that we in Europe have to pay a lot of taxes over the precious metals. This is not true as long as you don’t buy silver or platinum bars outside a VAT exempted area.

Note with regards to Income tax:
As gold is seen as savings or equity, in most countries (also outside the EU) incometax rules apply. In The Netherlands a tax rate of 1.2% may be charged over your equity above EUR 30,000 as a single or EUR 60,000 if you are married or have a fiscal partnership.

Enjoy!

👍 sneaky-ninja, silvergoldbotty, qurator-tier-0, kokoliso, rolf.bakker, silvernova, upv4life, roxdude, rollingthunder, gdwcoins, goldrooster, owenwat, honolulu, ronaldoavelino, inspiredgideon1, oneazania

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@goldrooster · Mar 7 '18

Good explanation. And there are coinbars nowadays. Taxed like coins but shaped like bars.

👍 owenwat

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@ronaldoavelino · Mar 7 '18

I have one daughter that lives in Canada and another that lives in Spain. I am going to visit Madrid in October and I was afraid of the taxes that I would have to pay if I bought silver or gold coins there. Your article was perfect to explain me what will happen. Thank you.

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@roxdude · Mar 7 '18

Yeah you can buy gold worldwide up to a certain limit i believe or here in uk as an investment..Plus if you buy cgt free coins you pay no tax from your profit if over a certain amount. even on the silver.. but really not that often here in the eu you can get silver at near spot...Bars cost as much or more than some coins.. although the new dragon coin bars from perth mint.. is a good way to get a bar and i may get a tube of those.. pretty cheap.. I never buy silver outside the eu as you get stung by customs and the postal service for there fee...not worth it better to buy from goldsilver.be or other dealers in germany. great post

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@silvergoldbotty · Mar 8 '18

You have received an upvote from STAX. Thanks for being a member of the #steemsilvergold community and opting in (if you wish to be removed please follow the link). Please continue to support each other in this great community. To learn more about the #steemsilvergold community and STAX, [check this out.](https://steemit.com/steemsilvergold/@silvergoldbotty/introducing-stax-the-steemsilvergold-community-bot)

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@rollingthunder · Mar 8 '18

Thanks @rolf.bakker for the clear update.  I was one of your reply 's that had a questions about the VAT and how it relates to PM purchases in the EU.  I will save this post and refer to it often.

👍 rollingthunder, fialca

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@sneaky-ninja · Mar 11 '18

re-rolfbakker-precious-metals-and-taxes-in-the-eu-20180311t231052598z

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