Buying and Selling Gold: Where and What VAT Really Applies

Buying gold without VAT is legal; the problem is everything else

A buyer saw 2009 China Panda coins for 35 euros, paid, and received an envelope with rusted discs. This is not an isolated or the worst case: it's the fine print of a market—the buying and selling of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium—where the coin's price is secondary. What truly determines how much you pay is a tax geography that almost no one explains. In Germany, investment gold is taxed at 0%. Silver is not. And that's where the maze begins.

The VAT That Decides Where to Buy Gold and Silver

German silver coins are subject to a 7% VAT; silver bars, 19%; investment gold, in coin or bar form, is taxed at 0%. There are also Münzbarren, minted bars with a face value that are taxed at 7% and thus avoid the higher rate. This difference explains why a good portion of purchases are made north of the Pyrenees.

The problem is that not all shops apply the same rule. Suisse Gold adds an 18% VAT to silver, platinum, and palladium without exception. Coin Invest Direct, cheap for gold coins, adds a surcharge of 7% when the order is for silver. Anyone comparing prices without reading that line signs up for a more expensive purchase than they would make in their own neighborhood.

The Cheapest Shop Isn't Always the Cheapest

A textbook example: six coins with 19.90 euros for postage plus 4.97 with no clear purpose. That's 4.14 euros per unit that disappears from any comparison. On top of that, Goldsilver.be charges an extra 3-4% if you pay by card, and some national shops update their prices manually: the amount you see isn't always the amount you're charged.

Some accept the extra cost in exchange for service, while others prefer to take a risk with the shop that has the best display. The complete calculation, item by item, reveals surprising differences depending on the metal and the order volume.

The German Myth: Punctual Until Something Goes Wrong

The fruta for German seriousness doesn't hold up well against reality. Gold Dreams can take a month or a month and a half to ship. And when something goes wrong, the response becomes curt to the point of indifference: a compliant German shop is a blessing; one that fails is a headache without an interlocutor.

The recurring conclusion is uncomfortable: it's better to pay a little more to a responsive seller than to save four euros and be left not knowing who to complain to. Some argue the opposite, that the savings outweigh the risk; but the counterargument is that a single incident can wipe out the profit from twenty purchases.

Why Buying Outside the EU Is Expensive

Buying outside the European Union is tempting and almost always a bad idea. An order of 254 euros from China resulted in 90 euros of customs fees, a month of paperwork, another month and a half of waiting, and six euros in bank charges for currency exchange. Silver crossing customs is subject to a 21% VAT that erases any discount.

Buying Is Easy; Selling, the Map's Black Hole

Here, the map is almost blank. A 50-gram bar of Credit Suisse with a serial number and 999.9 fineness has no place, on paper, to be sold with guarantees outside the 'we buy gold' circuit. Distrust towards these establishments is widespread. Alternatives circulate: buying houses, private sales, and some businesses that, in person, adjust the price to the spot price.

There's a revealing detail. One seller maintained a flat rate of 40 euros that didn't change no matter how much the gold price rose. They have now updated it.

Where to Store the Metal: From the Bank to the Olive Tree

And where is all this stored? The bank option is quickly discarded. A personal safe deposit box, professional custody, or the classic domestic hiding place. Vault services allow buying, storing, and selling with a click, and are even used to arrange donations to residents abroad without the state tax of 30%.

There's a detail almost no one mentions: sellers are required to report transactions above 12,500 euros by bank transfer and 15,000 in cash. Metal is not anonymous. It never was.