# Tax implications of importing gold bullion coins



## Trellis (15 Sep 2011)

*Tax implications of importing gold bullion coins*

I am considering buying gold bullion coins by placing an order with an online dealer that is located outside of Ireland. Does anyone know if I would be liable to import duty and/or VAT? Does the amount of import duty and/or VAT (if any) depend on whether or not the country of sale is within or outside of the EU?

The following is the only information I could find on the internet regarding this matter. (I am unable to post the actual links due to having under 15 posts on this website.)

The Wikipedia article “Bullion Coin” states “The European Commission publishes annually a list of gold coins which must be treated as investment gold coins in all EU Member States. The list has legal force and supplements the law.” The most common coins on the European Commission list are then listed in this Wikipedia article. However, the Wikipedia article doesn’t state what the implications are of a coin being declared an investment gold coin. Is it that coins on this list are not subject to import duty and/or VAT?

The very limited advice I could find from a trawl of the internet seems to be less than authoritative with no convincing basis or source being given for the advice.

· The thread “On Silver” at Freedomireland.com gives “Gold has no import duty thanks to the EU gold act of 2000 making it attractive in that aspect”.

· The thread “The price of Gold” at Thepropertypin.com has “as far as i recall there is no duty or VAT on either investment grade gold or coins”.​The following articles relate the experiences of people who did import bullion coins into Ireland.

· In the thread “Customs holding onto gold coins*”*at Askaboutmoney.com, someone says that they ordered gold coins from Canada. This person states that he/she got a call from customs “asking for my VAT number and advising that there'd be customs and/or VAT due on the coins…” The outcome of this case isn’t given.

· In the thread “Buying Silver” at Boards.ie, someone states that they ordered silver coins: “Purchased some from Suisse gold... I got the Austrian Philharmonics 1oz. When they arrived here, the deliver guy said there was a customs charge which worked out at about 10% of the total cost. I told them since they were legal tender there was no excise duty etc on the coins (the silver philharmonics are marked 1.50 euro). They were sent back to customs for inspection and they did not charge the excise duty. So I had nothing to pay.”​I would greatly appreciate any advice that would clear up this confusion.


----------



## max (22 Nov 2011)

Hey Trellis, how did you get on with the silver


----------

