Virginia adopts bullion tax exemption

Purchases of gold, silver or platinum bullion in amounts over $1,000 will be exempted from Virginia state sales and use taxes under terms of a new law signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Effective date will be sometime on or after July 1, 2015, and before Jan. 1, 2019.

This law was achieved through the hard work of dealer John Feigenbaum of David Lawrence Rare Coins, lobbyist Stephen Hanever and the Industry Council for Tangible Assets.

Organized numismatics owes them a great debt of gratitude, but they are not yet finished in their work.

Attempts to add collectible coins and paper money during the legislative process failed.

When the new law takes effect, Virginia will become the 32nd state to have some form of sales tax exemption for coins and/or bullion.

“Although the law excludes rare coins and paper money, efforts will continue to obtain a rare coins and paper money sales-tax exemption,” Feigenbaum said. “Not only will it have a more positive impact on our businesses, it will put Virginia in the running for much larger trade shows – including one of the American Numismatic Association shows.”

Instrumental in the legislative effort were Delegate Jackson Miller, who sponsored H.B. 1648 and State Senator Frank Wagner, who sponsored a similar Senate bill, SB 1336.

Feigenbaum may be contacted by telephone at (800) 776-0560, or by email at john.feigenbaum@davidlawrence.com.

Coin collectors often think these laws a no-brainers, or perhaps even too boring to take an interest in, but all collectors are affected by these one way or another. So are dealers.

Bullion buyers looking for the lowest price usually do business with dealers and firms in states with an exemption.

This gives them a lower price at the time of sale, but if they are not paying attention to their home state laws they might find themselves with a liability in the form of a use tax levied on their purchases.

There are 18 states where this is a real possibility.

It is far better to lend a hand to efforts to gain a sales and use tax exemption than to receive a surprise tax bill.

By helping everybody, every individual is helping himself.

Visit the ICTA website to keep abreast of current efforts to obtain these exemptions:

http://www.ictaonline.org/

You will be wiser, and perhaps richer, for it.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."