Quoted:
Quoted:
I believe, that you are given a 1099 by the buyer, and then I believe you are supposed to use that as a basis for a capital gains tax.
I have been trying to determine if U.S. coins are taxes as collectibles, or if the sale would be taxed as a capital gain. (CGT would be about half the amount)
Uberjager is quite wrong in his statement. If the buyer (must be a dealer, no individual will give you a 1099) gives you a form 1099-B, that is reported to the IRS as the sales price. It it up to you to show basis (cost).
A spreadsheet probably won't cut it, as the IRS requires contemporaneous records (records made at the time of purchase). The IRS has denied spreadsheet records as proof of car mileage records, so I think it would also apply here.
If you bought the coins, your basis is your purchase price.
If you got them as a gift, your basis is whatever the person who gave them to you, paid.
If you traded for them, your basis is the basis of the stuff you traded away.
If you inherited them, your basis was the value as of the date of death of the person you got them from.
If you cannot prove basis, your basis is ZERO.
Coins and gold/silver bullion get screwed in the tax code and are classified as collectibles, with a maximum capital gains rate of 28%.
ETA: The dealer reporting requirements are not always well understood even by the dealers themselves. Some may report everything above a certain amount, some may report nothing. The last I heard, if you sold more than $1000 face value in 90% silver, or more than 1000 oz of silver (but not US Silver Eagles), or more than 25 ounces of certain gold coins, the dealer must issue you a 1099-B.
ETA #2: Found this:
http://www.golddealer.com/questions_and_answers.html#List%20of%20Reportable%20Bullion%20Transactions
The following is what The Industry Council For Tangible Assets has to offer about what the I.R.S. wants in the way of paper work. They are describing the paper work provided by bullion dealers which relate to what you purchase or sell. These rules are taken from the ICTA newsletter Washington Wire dated December, 2004.
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First: You can place any size order and pay with a check. No one cares, not even the government. The only time they want to hear from us is if you invest more than $10,000 in cash. Then you must fill out I.R.S. Form 8300. There is nothing wrong with large cash transactions, but the government wants to know about them. And, by the way, you can't spend $5000 today and $6000 tomorrow, for Uncle Sam does not like to be fooled.
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Second: There are rules which apply only to bullion and only when you sell. They have nothing to do with your purchases, and do not apply to rare coins. Kilo bars are 32.15 troy ounces of gold and are subject to reporting. We are also required to report any gold bar sale totalling 32.15 ounces are more. Concerning 1 troy oz. gold coin transactions: If you sell 25 coins or more of the Krugerrand, Maple Leaf or Mexican Gold Onza we are required to report them on I.R.S. Form 1099B. Such reporting is not required on transactions involving the U.S. Gold Eagle the Australian Kangaroo or the Austrian Philharmonic. There is also no reporting on any small gold bullion coins.
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Third: We are required to report $1000 face 90% silver bags and 1000 ounce silver bar transactions only when you sell to us. We are not asked to report the sale of 40% bags or less than $1000 face in 90% silver coin. The 10 and 1 ounce silver bar is exempt as long as the sale does not exceed 1000 ounces.
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Fourth: Platinum or palladium bars in quantities of 25 ounces or more are reportable. Platinum bullion coins like the Canadian Maple Leaf, the U.S. platinum Eagle, or the Australian Koala are exempt. Palladium bullion coins like the Russian Ballerina are exempt. If these rules seem arbitrary we don't blame you. We believe our government based their decisions on what was traded on the nation's commodity exchanges and had little to do with what was happening in coin stores across America.
ETA #3: Had to fix something above. Had a brain freeze and got gift basis / inherit basis mixed up. Need more caffeine.