Tax on importing silver from US to UK

[StackerCollector]

Hello,

thought about making a larger purchase of silver coins from the US.

Does anyone have any idea how such an order would be taxed/ VAT?

I didn't manage yet to get through the government tax labyrinth:)

Thanks for any ideas and info.

Have a great weekend!

Robin

[Mariner1961]

From my experience you'll be hit with a 20% VAT bill on the total plus another charge of £8-£17 depending on who the courier is.

Cheers

[Stu]

+1^^^^^^^^^^^

there is an old thread on this subject I'm sure if you have trawl around

[KevjustKev]

Maybe much cheaper to get it posted in smaller parcels. If the silver is worth only £49 I don't think HMRC worry too much, once you go over £50 then they may pickup on it. Also it might be worth sending to different addresses too.

[sixgun]

19 minutes ago, tallthinkev said:

Maybe much cheaper to get it posted in smaller parcels. If the silver is worth only £49 I don't think HMRC worry too much, once you go over £50 then they may pickup on it. Also it might be worth sending to different addresses too.

The shipping charges add up to quite a lot when sending smaller packages. It generally isn't worth it. If the sender would send coins invoiced at spot silver prices that would be helpful.

We see silver in the US and we look at the prices longingly. i would be doubtful in the end if it is worth having coins sent from the US unless you just cannot get them in Europe. The prices at German dealers and goldsilver.be are very good. The coins at German dealers and goldsilver.be will come from the US but they are buying at better prices than we can get them. In theory you could have coins sent to a German address, get the lower VAT rate on import and then get them sent on to the UK but there is always the factor of shipping costs and knowing someone who would do that for you.

i have bought stuff in the US. Stuff i could not get in Europe and if i could it would have been considerably more, so it was worth it.

[StackerCollector]

Thank you for the input.

I still have a German address besides my current place in London. I think I would have to pay 19% import tax to Germany.

And apparently here it is around 20%. Still baffled why German dealers have these great prices! Maybe they do pay the 19% but get them

back as they are a business? Wouldn't be possible to deduct the import tax as a private person unfortunately.

I'll do some further digging and post anything I can find if anyone is interested.

Regarding shipping:  a $1500 order would amount to roughly $65 in shipping costs, which is ok. Splitting the order into several packages would double

the silver price.

[sixgun]

9 minutes ago, StackerCollector said:

Thank you for the input.

I still have a German address besides my current place in London. I think I would have to pay 19% import tax to Germany.

And apparently here it is around 20%. Still baffled why German dealers have these great prices! Maybe they do pay the 19% but get them

back as they are a business? Wouldn't be possible to deduct the import tax as a private person unfortunately.

I'll do some further digging and post anything I can find if anyone is interested.

Regarding shipping:  a $1500 order would amount to roughly $65 in shipping costs, which is ok. Splitting the order into several packages would double

the silver price.

Are you sure you pay 19% VAT on import into Germany? My understanding is the old VAT rate is still being charged, it is something like 8% which is paid to customs. The dealer would normally be expected to reclaim this VAT and then when they sell to their customer they charge 19%. But they aren't doing this. They don't reclaim the VAT. They sell the coins as second hand so no further VAT on the actual coins is charged. This way they claim the coins are VAT free and they can sell them at cheaper prices.

[StackerCollector]

Found it. German dealers pay 7% import tax and then sell silver adding 19% VAT on the difference between the buy and sell prices. That's why German silver coins are that cheap.

As I am not a dealer I'll have to figure out how to get those meager 7% as well.

[sixgun]

31 minutes ago, StackerCollector said:

Found it. German dealers pay 7% import tax and then sell silver adding 19% VAT on the difference between the buy and sell prices. That's why German silver coins are that cheap.

As I am not a dealer I'll have to figure out how to get those meager 7% as well.

This is why i ask whether when silver coins are imported from outside the EU into Germany; are they taxed at 19%?

All things are possible but i would be surprised if a dealer were taxed at a lower rate. Be a 'dealer' - import them as a 'dealer'. Hey i am a dealer - i said i was 2 seconds ago. There are people on this forum who are dealers. They all started somewhere and became a dealer. i am not suggesting  you actually be a dealer, just be a dealer for tax purposes when importing silver coins into Germany, if that gets you the lower rate of VAT. But i would be surprised if dealers get a better rate.

[airmac]

The lower VAT in Germany,  as far as I know , is on collectable coins. For bars for example, unless, they are also stamped as a coin bar it would be 19%

[StackerCollector]

15 minutes ago, airmac said:

The lower VAT in Germany,  as far as I know , is on collectable coins. For bars for example, unless, they are also stamped as a coin bar it would be 19%

That's correct. That's why I recently bought a Fiji coin bar:)

[StackerCollector]

Maybe I should just register a business here, import from the US, resell the coins, deduct the VAT and have the company own more and more physical silver made from the profits!?  ??

[sovereignsteve]

It depends what kind of coin you're thinking of buying. Cheap standard bullion coins aren't worth it but those with a slightly larger premium can be worthwhile. You need to find someone in the US to buy for you and send them over.

[DrKarlMoneys]

I've been thinking about this myself recently as I purchased some silver from the US (https://www.goldenstatemint.com/) as some designs are quite elusive/expensive over here. I wasn't sure what the postage and tax would be in advance (I've included numbers below to help give people considering this an idea) but it was worth it for me as I wouldn't have been able to get hold of some of the coins otherwise.

One of the ones I really wanted was a Buffalo without a big circle spoiling the back of the design. E.g. https://atkinsonsbullion.com/mix-match/mix-match-silver/usa-buffalo-1oz-silver-round which currently costs £19.30 inc. VAT for 5+.

I got 5 from https://www.goldenstatemint.com/1-oz-buffalo-silver-bullion-round.html for the equivalent of £13 each at time of order.

UK: £95.5
US: £65

p+p, credit card surcharge and taxes add £6.77 per coin bringing the cost up to £98.85, so just for those 5 coins the order cost is comparable to a UK dealer. Not that much more considering and I get a version of the design I like. While it's a large proportionate addition if I were ordering them in larger amounts it'd be more worthwhile. Ordering internationally adds a lot of overheads but it's a £33.85 difference for which I'd be able to get ermm... 1 Britannia and some change.

It really comes down to: how much do you want that particular coin? Personally I'll stick to group orders and buying from UK sites unless it's something that I really can't get elsewhere.

Breakdown below:
Subtotal: $196.97
USPS Priority Mail International Padded Flat Rate Envelope $32.55
Credit Card Surcharge $9.18
Total: $238.70 = £182.92
Import VAT £31.72 + £11.25 Clearance fee = £42.97 total import costs

Total order costs £225.89

11 coins in the order = £20.53 avg. cost per coin before taxes

p+p, credit card surcharge and taxes cost £74.51 which adds £6.77 per coin

[KevinG]

Last time I ordered from the US was on ebay. Beside shipping I paid an additional 30 euro. No extra surprise afterwards when the order was delivered.

[MintageSeller]

So I'm sending around 1600$ worth of silver 90% to the UK FROM US. 

What would I be looking at shipping/tax wise? 

[mrrick]

On 31/10/2020 at 20:54, MintageSeller said:

So I'm sending around 1600$ worth of silver 90% to the UK FROM US. 

What would I be looking at shipping/tax wise? 

why from the US ? your gonna get hit by a hell of a bill

are you buying these items or being gifted them

have you considered ordering from a VAT free retailer like goldsilver.be or european mint

[MintageSeller]

7 minutes ago, mrrick said:

why from the US ? your gonna get hit by a hell of a bill

are you buying these items or being gifted them

have you considered ordering from a VAT free retailer like goldsilver.be or european mint

I purchased silver awhile ago when it dropped, so it is with a friend. I am just having trouble selling it, don't know why it is a really good price for 90% silver 

[mrrick]

im my experience in the uk

90% silver is not really valued

and can only be sold at spot value

but other members may have different points of view