Capital Gains Tax on gold and silver: coins, bars and bullion

UK gold Sovereigns (minted from 1837) and gold Britannias are exempt from Capital Gains Tax, however much you hold or make on them, because they are sterling currency. That assumes you are investing: if you buy and sell so often and systematically that it amounts to a trade, profits are charged to Income Tax as trading income (ITTOIA 2005 s.5), and HMRC weighs this using the "badges of trade", such as the number of transactions and how long you held the asset (BIM20205). Foreign bullion coins such as Krugerrands are currency but not sterling, so gains on them are taxable with no chattel exemption. Gold and silver bars are taxable too, but as "chattels" a single bar sold for £6,000 or less is usually exempt. Below: why, how the 2026/27 rates apply, and the VAT, ISA, pension and Inheritance Tax points people often get wrong.

Why Sovereigns and gold Britannias are CGT-free

The Act says all forms of property are assets for CGT, including "currency, with the exception (subject to express provision to the contrary) of sterling" (TCGA 1992 s.21(1)(b)). HMRC applies that to coins in its Capital Gains Manual: "Coins are to be regarded as currency only if they are legal tender at the time of their acquisition or disposal ... Sovereigns minted in 1837 and later years and Britannia gold coins are currency but, like all sterling currency, are exempt because of TCGA92/S21(1)(b)" (HMRC CG78305). Gold coins made by the Mint are legal tender for any amount, unless worn below their least current weight (Coinage Act 1971 s.2(1)).

Two consequences follow. There is no limit: the exemption works the same on one coin or a thousand. And it cuts both ways: losses are computed like gains, and a loss on an asset whose gain would not be chargeable is not an allowable loss (TCGA 1992 s.16(2)), so a fall in the gold price on Sovereigns cannot be set against other gains.

Silver Britannias and other UK silver coins

HMRC's manual names only gold examples, but the test is legal-tender sterling currency. Silver coins made by the Mint are legal tender, up to a limited amount per payment (Coinage Act 1971 s.2(1A)), and the Royal Mint states that "all gold, silver and platinum bullion coins produced by The Royal Mint are classed as CGT-free investments; this includes gold and silver Britannia coins" (Royal Mint). That is the issuer's statement rather than HMRC's; if a large sum turns on it, take advice.

Krugerrands, Maple Leafs, Eagles and other foreign coins

HMRC: "Coins which are currency but not sterling, for example Krugerrands, are chargeable assets" (CG78305). The same reasoning applies to any other foreign coin that is legal tender in its own country, such as a Canadian Maple Leaf or an American Eagle if issued as legal tender. They are worse placed than a bar in one respect: the chattel exemption "shall not apply ... in relation to a disposal of currency of any description" (TCGA 1992 s.262(6)(b)), so there is no £6,000 threshold. HMRC's manual makes the same point.

Gold and silver bars, bullion and jewellery

A bar is not currency, so it is a chargeable asset. It is tangible movable property (HMRC: "anything which is tangible moveable property", CG76550), which brings in the chattel rules in TCGA 1992 s.262:

• Sold for £6,000 or less: the gain is not a chargeable gain (s.262(1)). Jointly owned, each owner compares their own share with the limit (CG76573).
• Sold for more than £6,000: the chargeable gain is capped at five-thirds of the amount by which the proceeds exceed £6,000 (s.262(2)). GOV.UK says this helps if you got between £6,000 and £15,000 (GOV.UK; HMRC example at CG76577).
• Losses: if you sell for less than £6,000, the loss is worked out as if you had received £6,000 (s.262(3)).
• Sets: two or more items forming part of a set, sold to the same person or to connected people or people acting together, are treated as one asset with one £6,000 limit (s.262(4)). HMRC treats articles as a set only if they are "essentially similar and complementary and their value taken together is greater than their total individual value" (CG76632). HMRC adds that items going to the same person is "not conclusive" that they were a set. Whether several bars or coins form a set is therefore a question of fact under that value test.
• Terminal-market exclusion: the chattel exemption does not apply to "a disposal of commodities of any description by a person dealing on a terminal market or dealing with or through a person ordinarily engaged in dealing on a terminal market" (s.262(6)(a)). Whether a particular sale is caught depends on who you sell through.

The wasting-asset exemption does not rescue bullion. It covers tangible movable property with a predictable useful life of 50 years or less (s.44, s.45), which is why GOV.UK lists clocks and watches as tax-free. A gold or silver bar has no such limited life.

Jewellery is a chattel on the same basis: GOV.UK lists jewellery, coins and stamps among the personal possessions you may pay tax on; the exemption covers a sale for £6,000 or less, so tax is possible only above that (GOV.UK personal possessions).

Collectible and old coins

The test is legal tender, not purpose. A post-1837 Sovereign bought for its rarity is still sterling currency and still exempt. A coin that is not legal tender, which HMRC says includes pre-1837 Sovereigns, is not currency: it is a chattel, so the £6,000 exemption and marginal relief apply, and several coins sold together may be a set (CG78305). A foreign coin that is legal tender in its own country stays chargeable currency, rare or not.

Worked examples at 2026/27 rates

Rates and the annual exempt amount below come from the same code as our Capital Gains Tax calculator: £3,000 annual exempt amount, and 18% on gains falling within your unused basic-rate band and 24% above it (GOV.UK CGT rates). Both examples assume no other gains or losses in the year.

1. Selling Krugerrands

You sell a holding of Krugerrands for £30,000. They cost £18,000 and the dealer's fees came to £300.

"Income" is total income before the Personal Allowance, with no other reliefs. The same profit made on Sovereigns or gold Britannias would carry no CGT at all.

2. Selling one gold bar

You sell a single bar for £8,000 that cost £4,000: an actual gain of £4,000. Proceeds are over £6,000, so marginal relief caps the chargeable gain at five-thirds of £2,000, which is £3,333.33. The chargeable gain is the lower figure, £3,333.33. With no other gains, the £3,000 annual exempt amount leaves £333.33 taxable, and for someone with £60,000 of income the CGT is £80. This assumes the sale is not caught by the terminal-market exclusion above.

Buying in batches: pooling and the 30-day rule

For share pooling, "securities" includes "any other assets where they are of a nature to be dealt in without identifying the particular assets disposed of or acquired" (TCGA 1992 s.104(3)). HMRC says the identification rules "are intended to apply to all fungible assets such as shares, securities and foreign currency" (CG50220). So a holding of identical chargeable coins, such as Krugerrands of one size, bought at different times is a single pool at average cost, and the same-day and 30-day rules apply before the pool (s.106A). Our CGT on shares calculator runs the same pooling arithmetic, and the 30-day rule calculator covers buy-backs.

HMRC describes fungible assets as ones "functionally identical" so that you cannot tell which ones you sold. A bar carrying its own serial number and assay certificate may not meet that test, in which case each bar is a separate asset with its own cost; that is a question of fact for your holding.

VAT: investment gold exempt, silver is not

Investment gold is exempt from VAT. HMRC defines it as gold of at least 995 thousandths purity in a bar or wafer of a weight accepted by the bullion markets, or a gold coin minted after 1800 that is at least 900 thousandths pure, is or has been legal tender in its country of origin, and normally sells for no more than 180% of the value of its gold, or a coin on HMRC's published list (VAT Notice 701/21, section 2.1; Notice 701/21A). Gold coins outside the definition are standard-rated. The exemption is Group 15 of VATA 1994 Schedule 9, which has no equivalent group for silver, so silver bars and coins bought from a VAT-registered dealer normally carry VAT. VAT you pay and cannot reclaim can be deducted as a cost when you work out your gain (GOV.UK).

ISAs and pensions

You cannot put physical gold or silver in a stocks and shares ISA: HMRC's list of qualifying investments is made up of shares, securities, fund units and similar, not commodities (HMRC ISA qualifying investments). Exposure to gold inside an ISA is through listed securities or funds that the ISA manager accepts as qualifying, such as mining shares or exchange-traded products; ask your provider whether a particular product qualifies. Gains inside an ISA are free of CGT (GOV.UK).

A self-invested pension that is an investment-regulated scheme faces tax charges on "taxable property", which includes tangible moveable property. HMRC says investment grade gold bullion has been specified as an exception, defined as "gold of a purity not less than 995 thousandths that is in a form of a bar or a wafer, of a weight accepted by the bullion markets" (PTM125100). Coins and silver are not on that list. Whether your scheme will hold bullion at all is up to its administrator.

Inheritance Tax: no exemption for Sovereigns

The sterling exemption is a CGT rule only. Inheritance Tax is "a tax on the estate (the property, money and possessions) of someone who's died" (GOV.UK Inheritance Tax), and gold and silver, in coins or bars, are part of that estate. Separately, for CGT a transfer of chargeable bullion to your spouse or civil partner is treated as giving neither a gain nor a loss while you are married or in a civil partnership and living together. After you stop living together, the same treatment continues until the earlier of the last day of the third tax year after the tax year you separated and the day a court grants the divorce, dissolution, annulment or separation order; and with no time limit for a transfer made under a divorce or separation agreement or court order (TCGA 1992 s.58(1A)-(1D), for disposals from 6 April 2023).

Reporting a gain

CGT has no bill: you work out whether your total gains for the year are above the £3,000 allowance. If they are, report through a Self Assessment return for the tax year of the sale, or, if you are UK resident and eligible, the "real time" Capital Gains Tax service, which GOV.UK says lets you report by 31 December in the tax year after the sale (GOV.UK: reporting and paying). With the real-time service you must attach a copy of your calculations, and you pay by the 31 January after the 31 December reporting date: GOV.UK's example is a 2025 to 2026 gain reported by 31 December 2026 and paid by 31 January 2027. If you are registered for Self Assessment you also include the sale on your return, and gains under the allowance still have to go on the return if the total you sold assets for was more than £50,000 (GOV.UK: work out if you need to pay; GOV.UK: report and pay). Keep purchase invoices: you need the cost and date for each lot.

Budget 2026 (28 October 2026) did not announce any change to how gold, silver, currency or chattels are taxed. Annex A shows CGT rates of 18% and 24% and an annual exempt amount of £3,000 for both 2026/27 and 2027/28 (Budget 2026 OOTLAR Annex A). More on the allowance in our CGT allowance 2026/27 guide and the wider rules in the UK CGT rules guide. For gains on cryptoassets, see the crypto CGT calculator.