Tax on sale of gold coins

Terry Says

That’s an interesting question on multiple levels.
First, is the question of whether a local sales tax applies. It wouldn’t apply to “investments” (you don’t pay sales tax when you buy 100 shares of stock). So it’s best to buy from a numismatic dealer. You can find one by searching on Money.org– the website of hte American numismatic association.

But the larter question revolves around whether you must keep track of purchase and sales receipts, to report capital gains (or losses) on your tax return. These days all dealers report transactions of over $10,000 when cash is involved. They are obligated to do that under federal banking laws (since, after all, they must deposit your payment into their bank account!) Same goes if you sell your coins to a dealer and want to be paid in cash. That would be a bit more difficult for the dealer, who must take that amount of cash out of his bank account (or stash of cash!).

Under that amount, it depends on whether the coin dealer sends you a 1099 on the sale of your coins down the road. It’s sort of a gray area, although all transactions with capital gains (short or long term) are your obligation to report under the tax laws.
Please note that if you are buying or selling coins on eBay, the new rules for 1099k forms apply:
https://www.money.org/collector/mrbrklyn/blog/new-tax-laws-track-coin-collectors-closely