Turn a Precious Metals Loss into a Gain with Tax Swaps

The gold price became volatile Wednesday as Donald Trump was elected as the 45th U.S. president. Although the market has been fluctuating the past few weeks due to the election, precious metals spot prices are still low. If you invested in these assets in the past at significantly higher prices, you can take advantage of this little-known tax strategy of which many investors (and even their advisors) are often unaware.

Precious Metals Tax Swap

Precious metals are not subject to a holding period for tax swap sales. IRS Code Section 1091 prohibits the re-purchase of a security you sell for 31 days. But these “wash rules” do not apply to precious metals. As a result, you can do a tax swap by selling and immediately buying back precious metals - the same day! And, it is perfectly legal to do so.*

Take a look at the precious metals you currently own:

• Did you buy gold, silver, platinum or palladium higher than today’s prices?
• Have they fallen in value?
• Do you still believe you need them in your portfolio and would love to hold onto them?

If so, you are a perfect candidate for a tax swap that provides these benefits:

1. You can capture the loss for tax purposes.
2. You can offset gains one for one.
3. If you do not have gains to offset, you are permitted to use $3,000 of the total loss per year until you use it all up.
4. You can minimize your exposure to the market by dispensing with the 31 day holding period.
5. In many cases, you can get back the exact same merchandise you sold at the new cost basis.

For those who purchased silver with Perth Mint Certificates (whether it be unallocated, allocated or pooled allocated) at loftier prices, you can also sell and repurchase unallocated silver to capture your losses, retain your silver holdings, and receive free storage on unallocated silver going forward.

The best part about the tax swap is how easy it is to do: 

And, the benefit can be significant.

ASI has assisted with hundreds of tax swaps for our clients since we were founded in 1982. For example, we assisted one client who purchased gold Eagle proof sets several years ago. She paid around $50,000 for her gold at that time. Today, it is worth a little over $30,000. We helped her capture a nearly $20,000 loss for around $1,500 out of pocket.

In order to ensure the tax swap adheres to IRS requirements, you have to physically ship your bullion coins and bars, your Perth Mint Certificates or your numismatic coins to us, and we will physically ship the exact contents back to you.

Of course, you would need to cover the cost of shipping, insuring and handling in both directions along with the preferential commission of 2% spread for bullion or 4% for numismatic coins.

For Perth Mint Certificates, there would be a $50 Certificate fee for each new Certificate issued, and the spread is 3.5%. These funds would be paid out of pocket, and you would receive back the exact number of ounces you sold.

The good news is you don’t need to perform a tax swap hoping it will all work out to your advantage. You can actually see if it will be beneficial before you execute the transaction.

Our Preferred Client Relations representatives can walk you through the calculations, provide the numbers you need to consult with your tax attorney, CPA or advisor, and help you execute your tax swap if your trusted advisor agrees you can benefit.

The time is right for this service. We can help you do a tax swap within the year end, but you must start the process soon in order to capture your losses in your 2016 taxes. We have the knowledge and experience to make the process of capturing your loss painless and effortless.

Important – Doing the tax swap at currently low prices ensures you capture a larger loss, and your cost to capture it is lower.

Call us today at 800-831-0007 or send us an email to see if a tax swap is right for you.

*Asset Strategies International is neither a financial advisor nor a tax advisor. Consult your CPA or Tax Attorney today.