Do You Pay Taxes When You Sell Gold and Silver?

As far as the US tax code is concerned, your Silver Eagles live in the same drawer as a Picasso, a Persian rug, a rare stamp and a bottle of wine. The law that sets the rule lists “any work of art,” “any rug or antique,” “any metal or gem,” “any stamp or coin” and “any alcoholic beverage” together, and calls the lot collectibles. The tax code files your retirement savings next to your wine.

So, do you pay taxes when you sell gold or silver? Yes, on the profit. In the US, a gain on gold or silver you held for more than a year is taxed as a collectible, at your ordinary income tax rate but no more than 28%. Held a year or less, it is taxed as ordinary income. The profit is what you were paid minus everything you paid, including the dealer’s premium and shipping. Losses can offset gains. The UK, Canada and Australia each do it differently, and the UK exempts some coins entirely.

The surprise for most stackers is the rate. Shares held for a year are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, depending on income. Metal can be taxed at up to 28%. The wine cellar pays more.

How is gold and silver taxed in the US?

As a collectible, which comes with two rules worth knowing.

The holding period. Sell metal you held for more than one year and the gain is long-term. Sell sooner and it is short-term, which the IRS taxes as ordinary income, exactly like wages. The calendar matters: “more than one year” means a coin sold on the one-year anniversary of its purchase is still short-term, so wait one more day.

The 28% cap. A long-term gain on collectibles is taxed at your ordinary rate, up to a maximum of 28%. If your ordinary rate is 12%, that is what the gain pays. If it is 32% or more, the gain stops at 28%. So the collectibles rule mostly hurts people in the middle: someone whose income puts their share gains in the 15% bracket can still pay 22% or 24% on a gain in gold.

Two smaller items can apply on top. People with large investment income may owe the net investment income tax, and state income taxes generally apply as well. Neither cares whether the gain came from gold or from shares.

How do you work out the gain?

Your gain is what you were paid for the metal minus your cost basis, and your basis is everything it cost you to own it: the price, the dealer’s premium over spot, shipping, insurance in transit and any fees. You report each sale on Form 8949, and the totals go on Schedule D.

That is why the premium matters twice. You pay it once when you buy, and it lowers your taxable gain when you sell, but only if you can prove it. A stacker who kept the receipt for ten Silver Eagles at $5 over spot each has $50 less gain to pay tax on than one who didn’t. The premium calculator works out your full cost per ounce, and My Stack keeps the records.

Into the weeds: gifts and inherited metal

Inherited metal generally takes its value on the date of death as its basis, so decades of gains before then are never taxed. Metal you received as a gift generally keeps the giver’s basis. Both have exceptions, and the IRS covers them in Publication 551, Basis of Assets.

Are you taxed on inflation when you sell gold?

Yes. The tax is figured in dollars, and a dollar in the year you sell is not the dollar you bought with. The IRS doesn’t adjust your cost for the difference.

Take ten ounces of gold bought at 2011’s average price, $1,572 an ounce, and sold at 2021’s, $1,799. The cost was $15,720 and the sale brought in $17,990, a gain of $2,270. But consumer prices rose 20.5% over the same decade, so the $15,720 spent in 2011 was worth about $18,942 in 2021 dollars. In purchasing power, that sale lost about $950. The tax bill on the $2,270 gain could still be up to $636.

The sale showed a $2,270 gain and lost $952 of buying power

Ten ounces of gold, bought at 2011’s average price and sold at 2021’s, in dollars.

On a site called Debasement Basement, this is the part worth sitting with. Part of every nominal gain on gold is just inflation, and the tax treats that part as income. The capital gains calculator splits your own gain at that line and shows the tax on each part.

The fair counterpoint is that indexing gains for inflation isn’t free or simple. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated in 2018 that it would cost $100 billion to $200 billion in its first decade, with more than 86% of the benefit going to the top 1% of households, because capital gains are concentrated among the wealthiest. The Tax Foundation argues the other side: taxing nominal gains can push the effective rate on a real return well above the stated one. Both are describing the same sale.

Is swapping silver for gold a taxable sale?

Yes. Ratio traders sometimes swap silver for gold when the gold-silver ratio is high and back again when it is low, and in the US every swap is a sale of one metal and a purchase of another. Like-kind exchanges, which once let some swaps go untaxed, have applied only to real estate since the 2017 tax law: the IRS says the change “limited like-kind exchange treatment to exchanges of real property.” A swap that never touches dollars still has to be priced in them on Form 8949.

Can you deduct a loss on gold or silver?

Yes, a loss on metal held as an investment is a capital loss. It first offsets your capital gains, and up to $3,000 a year of what is left ($1,500 if married filing separately) can offset other income. The rest carries forward to later years. Silver bought at 2011’s average of $35.12 and sold at 2021’s $25.14 would have produced exactly that kind of loss.

How is gold taxed in the UK, Canada and Australia?

United Kingdom. Gains are taxed at 18% within the basic-rate band and 24% above it, after a tax-free allowance of £3,000 a year. The famous exception is that HMRC treats British coins that are legal tender as currency, and sterling currency is exempt from capital gains tax. HMRC’s own manual names sovereigns and gold Britannias; dealers apply the same rule to silver Britannias and other UK legal tender bullion coins, such as the Queen’s Beasts. Maple Leafs, Eagles and Krugerrands are taxed like any other asset.

Canada. Half of a capital gain is added to your taxable income. The government had planned to raise that share to two-thirds, then canceled the increase on March 21, 2025.

Australia. Bullion held in your own name is subject to capital gains tax, and an individual who held it at least 12 months can cut the gain in half first. That is changing. In June 2026 parliament passed a law that, for gains accruing from July 1, 2027, replaces the discount with a cost base raised for inflation and adds a 30% minimum tax on net capital gains, with some exemptions. So Australia is about to tax only the real part of a gain, which is the inflation argument above, settled one way, with a higher floor attached.

What to keep so the tax is right

Every rule on this page runs on one number you have to supply: what you paid. Dealers almost never report your purchases or your coin sales (the dealer reporting guide explains why), so the receipt in your drawer is the only proof of your basis. Keep the date, the item, the quantity, the total paid with every fee, the dealer, and the same details when you sell.

The IRS may file your Silver Eagles next to the Picasso and the wine. You don’t have to keep their paperwork in the same mess.

Sources

• What counts as a collectible (work of art, rug or antique, metal or gem, stamp or coin, alcoholic beverage): 26 U.S.C. § 408(m)(2), which the capital gains rules in 26 U.S.C. § 1(h) refer to.
• Collectibles taxed at a maximum 28%; 0%, 15% and 20% rates on most other long-term gains; the more-than-one-year holding period; short-term gains taxed as ordinary income; the $3,000 loss limit; Form 8949 and Schedule D: IRS Topic No. 409, Capital gains and losses.
• Net investment income tax: IRS Topic No. 559. Basis of gifts and inherited property: IRS Publication 551. Holding period: IRS Publication 550.
• Like-kind exchanges limited to real property: IRS news release IR-2020-262, November 23, 2020.
• Indexing debate: Chye-Ching Huang, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, August 1, 2018; Tax Foundation.
• Gold and silver annual average prices and the consumer price index (CPI-U annual averages, 224.9 in 2011 and 271.0 in 2021): this site’s data file, from the sources listed on How we work.
• United Kingdom rates and allowance: GOV.UK, Capital Gains Tax rates. Legal tender coins as exempt sterling currency (HMRC Capital Gains Manual CG78307 and CG78308): as quoted by The London Coin Company.
• Canada: cancellation of the inclusion-rate increase, Orbitax, reporting the Prime Minister’s statement of March 21, 2025.
• Australia: the 50% discount after 12 months, Australian Taxation Office; the law replacing it from July 1, 2027, Accountants Daily, June 25, 2026, and Baker McKenzie, September 2026.

Rules read October 17, 2026. Worked out by us: the 2011–2021 gold example ($15,720 cost, $17,990 sale, $2,270 gain, 20.5% inflation, $18,942 in 2021 dollars, a real loss of about $950, tax of up to $636 at 28%) and the $50 of premium on ten Eagles.

Questions people actually ask

Do you pay taxes when you sell gold or silver?

Yes, on the profit. In the US, gold and silver are collectibles: a gain on metal held more than a year is taxed at your ordinary income tax rate, but no more than 28%, and a gain on metal held a year or less is taxed as ordinary income. The profit is what you were paid minus everything you paid, including the premium and shipping.

What is the capital gains tax rate on gold?

In the US, long-term gains on gold, silver and other collectibles are taxed at a maximum of 28%, compared with 0%, 15% or 20% for most shares. If your ordinary income tax rate is lower than 28%, the gain is taxed at that lower rate.

Is silver taxed as a collectible?

Yes. The tax law's definition of collectibles includes any metal or gem and any coin, so silver bullion, silver coins and gold are all taxed under the collectibles rule in the US.

Do I pay tax on gold if the dealer doesn't report the sale?

Yes. Whether a dealer files Form 1099-B depends on what you sold, not on whether you owe tax. You report your own sales on Form 8949 and pay tax on any gain.

Is swapping silver for gold taxable?

Yes, in the US. Each swap is a sale of one metal and a purchase of another. Like-kind exchanges, which once let some swaps go untaxed, have been limited to real estate since the 2017 tax law.

Are you taxed on inflation when you sell gold?

In the US, yes. The gain is measured in dollars with no adjustment for inflation. Gold bought at 2011's average price and sold at 2021's showed a gain of $2,270 on ten ounces, but prices rose 20.5% over those years, so the sale lost purchasing power and the gain was still taxable.

Can I deduct a loss on gold or silver?

Yes, a loss on metal held as an investment is a capital loss. It offsets capital gains first, and up to $3,000 a year of what is left ($1,500 if married filing separately) can offset other income. The rest carries forward.

Are gold sovereigns tax free in the UK?

Yes. HMRC treats British coins that are legal tender, including sovereigns and Britannias, as sterling currency, which is exempt from capital gains tax. Foreign bullion coins such as Maple Leafs, Eagles and Krugerrands are taxed like other assets.

How is gold taxed in Canada and Australia?

In Canada, half of a capital gain is added to taxable income; a planned rise to two-thirds was canceled in March 2025. In Australia, an individual who held bullion at least 12 months can halve the gain, but for gains accruing from July 1, 2027, a law passed in June 2026 replaces that with inflation indexing and a 30% minimum tax.