As a result of the Supreme Court ruling last year in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc some online bullion dealers have begun charging sales tax on purchases. Many buyers had previously switched to buying bullion online in states that charge sales tax in order to keep the cost of investing in silver and gold bullion down.
Over the past few months several major dealers revamped the checkout process on their website’s to include sales tax for states that require it.
Among those dealers has been two of the largest, APMEX and JM Bullion. Both dealers have published pages on their respective website’s related to sales tax and which states they are required to collect sales tax for on bullion purchases.
Even with these guides there is still a lot of confusion about sales tax with regard to gold and silver bullion, gold and silver coins, and other numismatic and bullion related items. Each state has it’s own unique definitions of how each are categorized and how they determine if sales tax should be charged on purchases.
Some dealers have also begun charging sales tax on bullion related items purchased through their eBay Stores. This has been leading many buyers to alternative dealers that have not begun charging sales tax, as well as seeking out alternate online platforms and communities for trading precious metals and other local sources.