French taxing the life out of tradition

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I’d like to draw your attention on a new way of discouraging french people from buying gold by increasing the tax on resale. This is 7.5% plus 0.5% at the moment. There is a new law project to increase this to 10% + 0.5%. You can access the link here:

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/propositions/pion4145.asp

This comes after a new law applicable since September 2011 (I’m sure you must be aware of it), which prohibits cash transactions on gold. Up to then we could buy up to 3000€ of gold in a single transaction, whithout showing an ID.

Now we can only pay by check,credit card or wire transfer, which will give the government an opportunity to know who has gold and eventualy confiscate it when time comes.
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http://maxkeiser.com/2012/01/23/im-...ange-for-lower-interest-rates-on-their-loans/

Expect the same to happen here sooner or later. All over Europe, they get schwacked with VAT on their PM buys, which I personally view as bullshit.

Great. :rimshot:
They'll come to Geneva to buy gold.
The Germans are already coming to Zürich to buy silver, because Switzerland exempts silver coins from our VAT (8% normally). German VAT on silver is 19%.

swissaustrian said:

German VAT on silver is 19%.

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That is just insane. Is there less VAT on gold in Germany? Thats quite a hefty burden they are putting on people who buy PM's. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this doesn't happen in the US anytime soon.

Hey, at least the Swiss don't have VAT on silver coins, if I was a German I would make the trip, too.

GREAT thread PMBug, thanks for sharing this info!

Italy has already BANNED all cash transactions of over 1000 euros (or 3000, sorry I do not remember which). Cannot use Legal Tender for a large-ish purchase. Italy has also put up a camera system at their frontier with Switzerland that takes a picture of all cars leaving. AND they have currency sniffing dogs deployed.

And now France. I would bet that the French will buy and sell their gold in Switzerland and/or underground.

Buy as much gold as you can ASAP! This could very well be coming to a country near you soon!

It is already here DCRB.

Try taking out more than a few grand in cash from the bank. They look at you like you are a drug lord or something. Then, try to go to nearly any small store and use a bill as small as a fifty. Again, deer - headlights - then a "Sorry man, I can't take anything larger than a twenty.....do you have a credit card"?

I believe teh law makes them report cash transactions over 10K, but I understand that some banks do it at a smaller amount, like my credit union does at 7,500.

Currency controls and rising taxes on metals is quite telling. I can't imagine paying for my metal, including whatever premiums are in force, then paying sales tax and VAT on top of it. So a simple one ounce of silver at 30 dollars could be as much as 40 dollars when taxes are factored in. What a crock of shit.

I want some heads on a stick!

white&yellow999 said:

That is just insane. Is there less VAT on gold in Germany? Thats quite a hefty burden they are putting on people who buy PM's. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this doesn't happen in the US anytime soon.

Hey, at least the Swiss don't have VAT on silver coins, if I was a German I would make the trip, too.

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Gold is tax free in Germany, but you have to pay capital gains if you sell within a year, at least theoretically, because you can circumvene this by selling for cash.

It's not just gold if you buy silver coins here in Paris you have to pay by c/c or cheque..does anybody know any coinshops in Belgium ..to go to avoid the French sales tax?..

cshawcuk said:

It's not just gold if you buy silver coins here in Paris you have to pay by c/c or cheque..does anybody know any coinshops in Belgium ..to go to avoid the French sales tax?..

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I have no idea how the French or Belgic tax works, but here's how I would search for coinshops in Belgium :
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pièces+d'argent+en+belgique+comparateur+de+prix

my plan is simple but not without risk

the gold is held equally in bullionvault and goldmoney's Zurich vault ( yeah i know, they share the corridor in viamat ) with a smaller silver punt in bullionvault London.

Thing is, by not holding the stuff, theres no vat payable in UK and it remains authenticated 9999 pure.

when its time to sell, there will either be a gov guaranteed price or a world market, with CBs bidding, or bigger boys steal it .....

but with luck there will still be allowances for income in any year. So my ounce a month plan means only selling 12 a year and income tax / capital gains allowances will be maximised in any tax year.

Now the real laugh is that i can go to the department of free money and tell em i am unemployed, live in a shed and my savings are minimal (-;

once i get my social worker and depression therapy running i qualify for all the handouts.

its such a laugh running outside the system and seeing opportunities to play it ( like 'travellers' or protest camps ) but my instinct is to avoid all contact with the feds
and just enjoy the thought

@ ancona

I think that taking out as little as $3000 (or even less) COULD be considered as "suspicious activity" and so reportable at the bank's discretion (did DCFusor write recently along these lines?). And the bank is likely to fill out the form, you know, just in case...

If you have "homies" or family that you trust overseas, you could always take some Au (less than $10k ACTUAL VALUE) undeclared. And you can ALWAYS wire money overseas (any amount, for now...), but that does leave a paper trail...


@ rblong2us

Do they hand out free, ahh, ahh, what's the graceful way to put this?, ahh, pharmaceuticals over there? Inquiring minds want to know!