It is that time again, we're getting [clears throat] very close to April 15th, the time when all of our federal taxes are due. And if you sold precious metals in 2025, you're not going to want to miss what I have to say in this video. And if you plan on selling in 2026, you don't want to miss it either. Let's talk about it as we explore. >> [music] >> I just paid my taxes and boy was it a painful event. And you know, it's one of those things where when you have to


actually write out a check and you have to pay in, you know, it gives you a new perspective on as to how much they are taking out of you in terms of hard taxes. You know, the taxes is just one event. Inflation is another event that's a taxable event or because it's a hidden tax and because the value of this has gone down year-over-year. And make no mistake about it. In fact, honestly, compared to what it was in 1913, this equaled this, almost. It's crazy. But nonetheless, uh taxes is something


that we pay and there's taxable events that can occur, especially if you're selling things and make a profit. And that includes precious metals. Uh and they can usually trigger a 1099-B form, but even when there's not one of those that has been filed, we still may be liable. Uh I'm going to reference some pieces from Patrick Heller from Numismatic News, but nonetheless, there may be other things that you may know about that are not talked about in this video. So, feel free to chime in. This


is a service that I think everybody should come to understand to know the law in a way to be able to potentially avoid taxes as opposed to evade them. You don't want to avoid You don't want to pay your taxes or you want to You want to pay your taxes. That's for sure. You do not want to operate outside of the law, but there are legal ways to be able to avoid, um but whenever you sell precious metals, you have to understand that it is a taxable event. >> [snorts] >> If you sold


uh in the last year, and a lot of people did, there's a good chance that you had a paper gain, what you received minus what you paid for the which is federal, state, and local income authorities expect you to report on your respective tax forms uh to pay them their cut, which seems immoral to me, but nonetheless, it is kind of what the law is. So, that includes when you're selling to and big bullion dealers like Seven Metals, a channel sponsor. And they make it easy if you want to sell precious metals to


them. Check them out at their website, link is in the description below, to experience their great customer service for yourself. Now, it applies whether or not you sell your your sale was reported to the Internal Revenue Service on that 1099-B form. Uh it's used to report proceeds from broker and brokerage exchange transactions. In the past, it most applied to paper financial transactions, but was expanded in the 1980s to include home sales of precious metals and coins. In 2025, the IRS narrowed the items reported on form


1099-B to eliminate reporting of coin sales. Note that CBS News in recent uh weeks or month or so has provided inaccurate information on this subject. So, that's just it. Fact-check everything. You know, I'm not a lawyer and neither is Patrick Heller from what I understand, but he's done a lot more for some research on this. The responsibility for the seller to report and pay income taxes applies even though there may be no reports otherwise filed with any government. So, as part of the new tax law, which


was enacted in 2017, tax-free exchanges of precious metals within the same metal ceased. If someone swapped their gold bullion price gold coins or ingots for numismatic gold coins, the IRS and state and local authorities, if applicable, expect to see the value of the paper gain uh of what was swapped reported as a taxable gain. And uh as as has been true all along, if anyone seeking to take advantage of the high gold-silver ratio for much of 2025 swapped, for example, gold coins or ingots to receive silver coins or


ingots, the income tax authorities expect to see on your tax forms the value of the paper gain of the gold that you exchanged, even if you didn't receive any cash. That's crazy. Of course, if these transactions were conducted within a self-directed precious metals individual retirement account or IRA, there would not be any reporting or paying of income taxes either for that account or for the beneficiaries of such account. So, there look at that. You go and you do you play the ratio with your with your bullion dealer. See,


most of these bullion dealers, they're going to either buy back your gold and then uh but apparently that's a taxable event, trading your silver for gold or your gold for silver. Crazy to think about, but that's apparently the law. Uh as for how much the federal income tax liability might be, items sold that have been held for less than a year are taxed at the top marginal rate for the particular taxpayer. If the items were sold after being held for more than a year, then the paper profits are subject to the lower of the


taxpayer's top margin rate of 28%. For most people selling jewelry in years past, the payments they received were less than the cost basis, which meant they could not report the loss in their tax forms as they were not financial investment. However, with soaring gold and silver prices, uh some such sellers may recently have sold for a paper profit above their cost. If so, the income tax agencies want this reported and to collect the taxes. But what if there's no paperwork? You know, if I go and buy this gold


coin, you know, in 2020, the year that it was issued, uh or 2017, the year it was issued, well, that um was a whole lot less than it is today. And but I don't have a receipt for it. So, if I was to sell it now for market price, even below spot price, that would be a paper gain for me in paper dollars. Uh measured by these, but but do they do do they account for inflation-adjusted numbers? No, they don't. Even with that, I'm still would have made a profit, but how am I going to be able to prove that?


What would be the basis for that? That's a question I've always wanted to know how that would be put out. I'm just going Am I just going to randomly put a number? Am I going to look back at spot prices of the year 2017 if I bought it in 2017? Or could I just say that I bought this 2017 coin, um you know, uh maybe at the my local coin shop 2 weeks ago for cash. You know, I mean, and there's no transaction. There's no Maybe they gave me a paper receipt, but you know, are they going to keep a


record of that? I don't know. Some Some do, some don't. Uh and I guess they would have to uh investigate the local coin shop to get the paper records if they're going to audit. They're going to have to go over there and talk to them. You know, so it just seems like there's a lot of a lot to this if you're not keeping proper paperwork of your transactions to be able to make this work in order for the government get their cut, so to speak. Uh and so, you know, it's just crazy to


think about and it's insane, but that is where apparently where the law is and it apparently applies for American bullion as well from what I understand cuz I think I got that wrong in the past in a previous videos about this where you were exempt from taxation if you use if you bought American silver and gold, but I don't think it is exempt, apparently. It's crazy to think about that, too. So, this applies to individual taxpayers. Businesses that buy and sell precious metals and numismatics as part of their


stock and trade treat such transactions the same as they would any other kind of inventory. And that makes sense. While it may be true that the sale of any precious metals or numismatic items in 2025 may not reflect a genuine economic gain once you take into account the impact of government inflation and the money supply, the tax laws and regulations apply to paper gains and losses no matter the economic outcome. That is immoral. Absolutely immoral, but it is true. They're right about that, which is why


I've always thought that if you put your money in a money market account um and that uh interest rate is 1% and inflation is trading at almost 3%, you are getting uh screwed uh having that money in that account, plus that 1% you earn, you have to pay taxes on. It's ridiculous. And the the the entire tax code is absolutely immoral. And speaking as somebody who just paid their taxes and how painful it is, it rubs me pretty raw at this point in time. But nonetheless, I'm not somebody who sells my precious metals. I have


very little experience in it. Uh you know, I've done a very little of it um you know, in trading and the like and apparently, you know, I don't know. Apparently, you got you got to report all this. So, but what is the minimum amount? I guess it's 600 bucks. I guess is what what it is for He didn't talk about it here, but $600 seems to be be the minimum and it's going to be based off of your word for it. Going forward when considering the sale or exchange of any precious metals or


numismatic items, it may be worth factoring in the income tax consequences, he says here. Uh it's the responsibility of taxpayers to consult with their own advisers advisers uh before to confirm any tax advice at all. That's for sure. So, if any of you know the law or have worked in the IRS in this area, I would love to know what your thoughts are. Especially the question I have is what if you don't have any uh receipts of your transactions? What if your local coin shop or what if you bought at a


coin show um or if you sold at a coin show? What happens if you sell it peer to peer? And what happens if you buy it from somebody um off the street or peer to peer um and there's no record of a transaction? How are they going to know? And how are they going to enforce? And are they uh completely just uh uh essentially betting on our honesty about these transactions? And what is the threshold? Is it $600? Uh let me know what your thoughts are, but things to consider before you sell your precious metals.


And with that being said, I'd like to extend a multitude of gratitude to each and every one of you for taking the time to watch and to encourage you to please rate, share, comment, and subscribe. >> [music]