Do you pay U.K. customs for gold coins when importing from the U.S.A.

S

Silver Bullion Boy

New Member
Hi folks, I want to purchase some gold proof American Buffalo's but I don't know if the U.K. customs would hit me for 20% VAt etc like they do for the silver coins? Can anyone tell me the rules concerning this as I have read very mixed views on the google search and don't want to run the risk of getting heavily taxed if I import them in!

Cheers, Kai
 
I'm pretty sure as we dont pay vat here on gold, you wont have the 20% slapped on but there maybe an import duty though. The customs declaration form must say gold though, so make sure its insured just in case ;-)

Rockin'
 
Hi and thanks for the reply! I have just had a good read on the customs website regarding this and this is what I found out:

2. Exemption for investment gold
Investment gold is exempt from VAT, subject to an option to tax. If you are interested in opting to tax your supplies you need to read section 4.

top ^2.1 What is investment gold?
Investment gold is:

(a) gold of a purity not less than 995 thousandths that is in the form of a bar, or a wafer, of a weight accepted by the bullion markets;

(b) a gold coin minted after 1800 that:

is of a purity of not less than 900 thousandths;
is, or has been, legal tender in its country of origin; and
is of a description of coin that is normally sold at a price that does not exceed 180% of the open market value of the gold contained in the coin; or
(c) an investment gold coin as specified in Notice 701/21A Investment gold coins.

top ^2.2 Exemption
The following supplies are exempt:

(a) a supply of investment gold;

(b) a supply which confers the right to take possession of investment gold. This includes supplies of unallocated investment gold (see section 16), loans, swaps, forward and future contracts concerning investment gold. This does not include options. Also see Notice 701/9 Derivatives and terminal markets.

(c) a supply of services by an agent which consists of attempting to bring about a supply within (a) or (b) above for a named principal, whether or not the agent is successful.

And there is no duty to be paid also, its a real pity that silver was not the same!

And your right, the package will have to be fully insured and marked as gold on it, I think this would be quite risky these days to do. Has anyone purchased gold coins from the states and have you had any problems doing so? It is allot of money for me to spend, but I will save hundreds purchasing from the states rather than inside the u.k. for the coins that I am after as the dealers are too greedy, so I have do not have many options here.
 
Think you answered your own question there Silver Bullion Boy when you said it was quite risky. Guess it'll be a matter of weighing up buying them cheaper or taking the risk.

Just taking a quick looky at normal 1oz Gold Buffalo's

Tulving spot + $70 = approx [email protected] is 1144, (if you can get 1.57 exchange rate).
Coin invest direct - 1178
Tax free Gold (UK) - 1205

By the time you've done the insured shipping + customs handling it aint gonna work out a lot different if you add in the risk.

Of course if you want proofs then coin invest got em at 1240......

Good luck with that one.

Rockin
 
Hi mate, I was quite excited there when you said that coin invest had proofs for 1240, I went to their site and looked at payment options. They only accept bank transfers and no credit card transfers. Not so good, I will just have to see what I can do.

Cheers, SBB
 
Hi SBB, If its any use to ya I have used CID a few times and always been happy with them. A lot of companies seem to prefer the transfer set up. I was the same but decided what the hell and opened another bank account with my usual bank that I use for just doing tranfers.

That way there is only money in there when I want to spend it.

Rockin'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top