Bullion coins are popular with investors right now because of their reputation for protecting against high inflation. But there is now bad news, especially for collectors of silver coins: the price of many valuables has gone up by around eleven percent in one fell swoop. The reason for this is a decision by the Federal Ministry of Finance that abolished a tax break. According to reports from precious metal portals, the ministry informed the highest financial authorities of the countries in a letter. It is about the so-called differential taxation, which has been in effect since 2014. Silver coins from non-EU countries such as the popular Krugerrand, Maple Leaf or Kangaroo were affected. Precious metal dealers who imported them were sometimes able to apply the reduced VAT rate of six percent instead of the full 19 percent when reselling them. For German buyers, the coins were about eleven percent cheaper than coins from EU countries such as the Austrian Philharmonic. This tax benefit is now gone. This could lead to investors buying more silver bars in the future: they did not have the tax advantage before and they are cheaper to produce than coins. The favorable tax regime continues to apply to collector coins whose value exceeds two and a half times their material value.
Silver coins – Opinion – SZ.de
