Is buying or selling goods for gold or silver considered taxable?
"Of course. The rationale is exactly the same as always: profit is taxed. The fact that you use intermediate barter to make that profit is irrelevant. To clarify, as it seems that you think it makes a difference that no money ""changed hands"". Consider this situation: So far your cost is $10000. How will the tax authority address this? They will look at the fair market value of the barter. You got gold worth of $20000. So from their perspective, you got $20000, and immediately exchanged it into gold. What does it mean for you? That you're taxed on the $10000 gain you made on your product X (the $20000 worth of barter that you received minus the $10000 worth of work/material/expenses that you spend on producing the merchandise), and that you have $20000 basis in the gold that you now own. If in a year, when you plan to sell the gold, its price drops - you can deduct investment losses. If its price goes up - you'll have investment gain. But for the gain you're making on your product X you will pay taxes now, because that's when you realized it - sold the merchandize and received in return something else of a value." What you are doing is barter trade. Most countries [if not all] would tax this on assumed fair value. There are instances where countries may relax this norm in border areas for a small amount.   Barter is not just for gold – one can virtually do this for any goods, i.e. sell garments in exchange for oil, sell electronic chips in exchange for consumer goods, etc. Quite a few business would flourish doing this and not exchange currency at all, hence the need for government to tax on the [assumed / calculated / arrived/ derived] fair value. A word of caution: at times this may not be fair at all and may actually cost more than had one done a transaction using currency. "This isn't new. Even before silver hit $50 in 1980, silver coins were worth 3-4X face value for 'junk' silver.  There were people writing articles on how one could sell their house and specify a lower price, but paid in silver coins. Since silver coins have a face value, it was suggested that this was a legitimate process.  These people also suggested that if you paid your tax bill in silver coins, the IRS won't credit you for for than face value, ergo, the deal was legit.  As littleadv responded, it's barter. And barter is taxable. And once again, ""if it quacks like a duck...."""
AdrianaJewelry has a huge collection of gold, silver and diamond jewelry, that can match your every budget and opportunity. More than six hundred designs in gold and other expensive jewelry with and without diamonds are displayed on our website. If you want to Gold Studs, then you can order online through our website, we provide your order within committed time. For more information about any type of jewelry, you can contact us. Hyperinflation doesn't mean armaggedon. There have been hundreds of fiat currencies that have ended in hyperinflation i.e. wiemar republic (which the germans fully recovered from in less than 10 years before trying to take over europe).   Most all pawn shops buy gold/silver, especially during hyperinflation will people be buying gold/silver. You can't have hyperinflation without demand of commodities going through the roof, that is the driver of inflation. When this happens you can be gauranteed people will buy your gold/silver.  In the Wiemar republic, some people bought gold/silver for 1/10,000,000 what they sold it for. But they still lost 99% of their value because the mark still devalued another 1,000,000 times. Because of this, many people aren't even looking to sell it, until they absolutely need it's value. I.e. it's a piggy bank.   The best way to deal with a gold/silver stash is to hide it, you can't steal what you can't find. There's a reason pirates are famous for burying their stuff, when they don't have the law on their side. "The difficulty with investing in mining and gold company stocks is that they are subject to the same market forces as any other stocks, although they may whether those forces better in a crisis than other stocks do because they are related to gold, which has always been a ""flight to safety"" move for investors. Some investors buy physical gold, although you don't have to take actual delivery of the metal itself.  You can leave it with the broker-dealer you buy it from, much the way you don't have your broker send you stock certificates.  That way, if you leave the gold with the broker-dealer (someone reputable, of course, like APMEX or Monex) then you can sell it quickly if you choose, just like when you want to sell a stock. If you take delivery of a security (share certificate) or commodity (gold, oil, etc.) then before you can sell it, you have to return it to broker, which takes time.  The decision has much to do with your investing objectives and willingness to absorb risk.  The reason people choose mutual funds is because their money gets spread around a basket of stocks, so if one company in the fund takes a hit it doesn't wipe out their entire investment.  If you buy gold, you run the risk (low, in my opinion) of seeing big losses if, for some reason, gold prices plummet.  You're ""all in"" on one thing, which can be risky. It's a judgment call on your part, but that's my two cents' worth." "Intrinsic value is a myth.  There is no such thing.  Subjective human demand is the only thing that gives anything value.  This subjectivity is different person to person and can change very quickly. Historically there are two main uses for gold: jewelry and money.  How can you tell when a particular type of money is undervalued?  It disappears from circulation since people prefer to use money that is overvalued.  This phenomenon is paraphrased in Gresham's Law: Bad money drives out good money. The Coinage Act of 1792 established the US dollar as 371.25 grains of silver or 24.75 grains of gold.  This established a government ratio of 15 ounces of silver to 1 ounce of gold.  In the late 18th century there was a large production of silver from Mexico and the market ratio of silver to gold increased to 15.75 to 1 by 1805.  The government ratio, however, was still 15 to 1.  This was enough incentive for people to exchange their silver coins for gold coins at the government ratio, melt the gold, and sell the gold bullion overseas at the market value.  Thus, gold coins disappeared from circulation as people either hoarded the gold or sent it abroad.  People used the overvalued silver coins (i.e. the ""bad"" money) domestically and gold coins disappeared from the market. In an attempt to correct the problem of disappearing gold coins the Coinage Act of 1834 was enacted.  It kept the US dollar at 371.25 grains of silver but changed the definition to 23.2 grains of gold which established a government ratio of 16 to 1.  This was close to the market ratio of gold to silver at the time so both gold and silver coins appeared in circulation again.  The gold rush of 1849 produced a lot of gold and the market ratio of silver to gold became 15.46 to 1.  Now gold was overvalued so people began exchanging their gold coins for silver coins at the government ratio, melt the silver, and sell the silver bullion overseas at the market value.  People used the overvalued gold coins (i.e. the ""bad"" money) domestically and silver coins disappeared from the market. When you see gold circulating everywhere you will know it is overvalued compared to other types of money.  Paper money always drives gold out of circulation since the market ratio of paper to gold severely under values gold. Source here." You are still selling one investment and buying another - the fact that they are managed by the same company should be irrelevant.  So yes, it would get the same tax treatment as if they were managed by different companies. Gold ETFs are treated different than stock ETFs, as a collectable. This makes long-term investing in gold ETFs (for one year or longer) subject to a relatively large capital gains tax (maximum rate of 28%, rather than the 15% rate that is applicable to most other long-term capital gains). Read The Gold Showdown: ETFs Vs. Futures for more details. "Buying gold, silver, palladium, copper and platinum. The first two I am thinking about new currencies. The last three for the perpetual need for the metals in industry. I also have invested in Numismatic coins. They are small portable and easy to hide around the house. I only collect silver coins, so even if the world really blows up and numismatics goes out the window, I can depend on them forming a barter system through the content value of the silver. The problem with collectable items is that they are easy to see. For example, a nice painting just shouts out ""steal me!"". I don't buy large gold coins. As long as the coin is below 1/4 Oz gold I collect it. If the dollar does finaly collapse, to be honest it will be so bad that I think weapons will be order of the day. Do I think it will collapse...nah never." "Two points:    One, yes -- the price of gold has been going up. [gold ETF chart here](http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&amp;chdd=1&amp;chds=1&amp;chdv=1&amp;chvs=maximized&amp;chdeh=0&amp;chfdeh=0&amp;chdet=1349467200000&amp;chddm=495788&amp;chls=IntervalBasedLine&amp;q=NYSEARCA:IAU&amp;ntsp=0&amp;ei=PQhvUMjiAZGQ0QG5pQE)  Two, the US has confiscated gold in the past.  They did it in the 1930s.    Owning antique gold coins is stupid because you're paying for gold + the supply / demand imbalance forced upon that particular coin by the coin collector market.  If you want to have exposure to gold in your portfolio, the cheapest way is through an ETF.  If you want to own physical gold because a) it's shiny or b) you fear impending economic collapse -- you're probably better off with bullion from a reputable dealer.  You can buy it in grams or ounces -- you can also buy it in coins.  Physical gold will generally cost you a little more than the spot price (think 5% - 10%? -- not really sure) but it can vary wildly.  You might even be able to buy it for under the spot price if you find somebody that isn't very bright willing to sell.  Buyer beware though -- there are lots of shady folks in the ""we buy gold"" market."