Looking to buy gold bars, coins and rounds online and have these delivered by post? While it’s not always the most cost-effective way to invest in bullion, it’s just the ticket for collectors who get a kick out of coins and bars, and for anyone looking for a hands-on investment. What’s more, there are plenty of options at your disposal. But before we get to that, we’ll take a look at ways you can keep sales taxes and other taxes to a minimum, leaving more room for profit.

How to Avoid Taxes and VAT

Buy gold by post from the lowest taxes states

Gold by post from the low taxes states

Depending on where you live, you might find that you are facing sizeable VAT or sales taxes. Luckily, there are ways around this.

  • US Sales Tax: In the United States, sales taxes can add a significant percentage to your purchase, and in many cases these are so high that you need a huge leap in the spot price just to get your money back. To get around these, you can simply purchase online from a US-based bullion dealer, including JM Bullion. These are based in Texas, where sales tax are relaxed, they can therefore supply gold and silver bullion without those additional fees.
  • European VAT: In the UK, France and many other countries, there is a VAT (Value Added Tax) on bullion. In the UK, for example, you need to pay 20% additional VAT on silver, platinum and palladium (gold is exempt). And if you import from overseas to avoid this, then you may still be stung with those extra fees. However, this doesn’t apply as long as you pay VAT somewhere. So, if you order bullion from Germany, where VAT is just 7%, then you can save 13% and the UK government won’t do anything about it.
  • Capital Gains Tax: Often shortened to “CGT”, this tax applies to all profits you make from buying and selling bullion and is applicable in most countries. However, it doesn’t always apply to legal tender bullion produced by the mint of that country, and there are also exemptions regarding specific coins and bars, so it’s worth researching into this.
  • Other Taxes: If importing physical bullion is out of the question, you can simply buy and sell virtual bullion through a service like BullionVault, or you can buy from an overseas storage company, like GoldBroker, who will keep your bullion stored outside of the banking system.

Buying Physical Bullion

Where you go to buy your bullion depends on how much you have to spend and what you want to get out of your investment. If you’re investing a lot of money, then you might be better off with a service like GoldBroker. As mentioned above, they will secure your bullion for you, but they will also arrange delivery if and when you need it. They are not recommended for small-time investors though, because they have high minimum orders and their subscription fees tend to negate any profits at that level.

For silver, you can’t go much wrong with SD Bullion. These silver specialists offer silver coins and bars at close to spot price, and there are also some rare numismatic pieces available. Of course, this is only good if you’re in the United States, because the shipping charges are far too high for anyone based outside. The same goes for JM Bullion, where you can actually get free shipping if you reside in the US.

Summary

JM Bullion, in our opinion, is perfectly placed for physical purchases of bullion by post.

It doesn’t have as good of a selection as SD Bullion when it comes to silver, but they do have a lot of gold and other precious metals. It is also one of the few places you can buy investment-grade copper, but before you get excited, this is not really the way to invest in copper. It is such a cheap metal that it doesn’t lend itself to bullion-style bars or coins, simply because the value of metal in a large bar may only be a couple of dollars, whereas the cost to make that bar and to ship it, is much greater.

Still, when it comes to gold coins and bars purchasing by post , as well as low-cost platinum, without minimum orders or high shipping charges, then you can’t go much wrong with JM Bullion.