Advice on buying and selling gold sovereigns

Ephemera

Evening everyone,

I have a speculative question!

If I were to buy bulk gold sovereigns and sell them individually, what taxes would I need to pay on profits, if any?

Thanks in advance!

Eph.

Nile

Hello Ephemera

I'll move your thread to the 'Up Your Income' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

Ephemera

Thanks...and an unashamed bump into the bargain!

:D:D

Ephemera

<bumped again> <Sigh>

misskool

Hi,

This thread doesn't belong in the up your income board, so I've moved it over to savings and investments as it's about a short-term investment.

Aegis

Ephemera wrote: »

Evening everyone,

I have a speculative question!

If I were to buy bulk gold sovereigns and sell them individually, what taxes would I need to pay on profits, if any?

Thanks in advance!

Eph.

Almost certainly capital gains tax if you're doing that as an individual rather than a company. In other words, anything above your £9200 annual allowance for capital gains would more or less be treated as additional income and taxed accordingly.

Note that if you held the assets for several years you'd be eligible for taper relief at the moment, but given how your question was phrased, I didn't think it was applicable.

As of next year it's looking like an 18% flat rate on any gains you make above your allowance, which has seriously annoyed a LOT of people...

cheerfulcat

No CGT on sovereigns minted after ( IIRC ) 1837 - they are considered currency.

Aegis

cheerfulcat wrote: »

No CGT on sovereigns minted after ( IIRC ) 1837 - they are considered currency.

Wow, that's quite useful to know...

I was working on the assumption that we were talking about the intrinsic value of the metal itself rather than a modern currency.

EDIT: Can you give a link to somewhere which discusses this? I know that cash held in sterling is exempt, as is foreign currency for personal use, but this is neither sterling nor personal use, so might not fit those particular criteria for exemption...

merlinthehappypig

HMRC's Capital Gains Tax manual says

“Sovereigns minted in 1837 and later years and Britannia gold coins are currency but, like all sterling currency, are exempt. This means they are not chargeable assets and will not attract CGT."

There is no VAT payable on them either.

Bear in mind that the value of sovereigns is dictated partly by their condition and not just the gold value, though to a far lesser extent than other collectable coins unless you pick a particularly rare one. For the purpose of investing in gold the condition of the coin is irrelevant.

Krugerrands are not affected by condition, but they are subject to CGT, being a foreign currency.

Edit: there is a link here which discusses this issue, amongst others http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/44a6e406-262c-11db-afa1-0000779e2340.html

Aegis

merlinthehappypig wrote: »

HMRC's Capital Gains Tax manual says

“Sovereigns minted in 1837 and later years and Britannia gold coins are currency but, like all sterling currency, are exempt. This means they are not chargeable assets and will not attract CGT."

There is no VAT payable on them either.

Bear in mind that the value of sovereigns is dictated partly by their condition and not just the gold value, though to a far lesser extent than other collectable coins unless you pick a particularly rare one. For the purpose of investing in gold the condition of the coin is irrelevant.

Krugerrands are not affected by condition, but they are subject to CGT, being a foreign currency.

Edit: there is a link here which discusses this issue, amongst others http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/44a6e406-262c-11db-afa1-0000779e2340.html

Thanks very much, really appreciate the information

cheerfulcat

For further reading, Chard has loads of information - here's the index.