Bullion

RainGeek

Does anyone know why Palladium, Platinum, and Silver are VAT-able when Gold is exempt?

I would be interested to know if it is possible to buy these items VAT free as paying an extra 17.5%, soon to be 20% on top seems like a very high buy-in fee. I noticed a there are places, such as Guernsey, where you can buy these items VAT free but the problem then comes importing them into the UK. So my next question is this, if I buy metals from a country where VAT does not apply, would importing them into the UK be subject to VAT or Importation Tax, or both, and at what rate?

Would bullion be subject to VAT if it were purchased second-hand, and if so, would customs allow it to be imported tax free?

Thanks for your tips and suggestions.

RainGeek
raingeek@anonymousspeech.com

Arthurian

I think you need advice from HMRC. There used to be a huge book called 'The Tariff' in every Customs and Excise office and a clerk would look up whatever you wanted to import and tell you which category it belonged to, and what the rate of duty was for import from whichever country you needed. Now it's all online, but easy to slip up when trying to distinguish categories, so better to ask them yourself.

HMRC Tariff Classification Service Enquiry Line

01702 366 077

HMRC National Advice Service Enquiry Line

0845 010 9000

If you really want to have a go at finding out yourself first, you might like to have a look at http://online.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/tariff?r.s=b&r.lc=en

RDB

All around the world governments are doing what they can to make it difficult to buy silver bullion, VAT going up and scarcity of supply will get more and more.