Selling gold or silver after a slide: the federal tax, the Texas rules, and two households worked

Gold closed Friday at $3,875.20 an ounce and silver at $49.13, FMV's weekly report showed, the lowest gold close of the year. A household with coins or bars in a safe is now sitting on a smaller number than it was in January. Whether that number turns into a tax bill depends on three things: when the metal was bought, what was paid, and whether it gets sold at all.

How the IRS treats a sale

• Metal is a collectible. The tax code's definition covers "any metal or gem" and "any stamp or coin" (26 U.S.C. 408(m)). The carve-out for certain U.S. coins and bullion in that same section applies to retirement accounts, and the capital-gains rule reads the definition without it.
• The rate. "Net capital gains from selling collectibles (such as coins or art) are taxed at a maximum 28% rate," the IRS says in Tax Topic 409. A long-term gain on stock tops out at 20%.
• The clock. Held more than one year, the gain or loss is long-term. Held a year or less, it is short-term and taxed like wages.
• Losses. A sale below the purchase price is a capital loss. Under Topic 409, losses beyond gains can offset up to $3,000 of other income a year, $1,500 for married people filing separately, and the rest carries forward.

Two households, worked

A gain. A couple in 77354 bought ten one-ounce gold coins in 2023 for $2,000 each, $20,000 in all. At Friday's close the coins are worth about $38,752 at the spot price, a gain of about $18,752. Held more than a year, that gain is taxed at up to 28%, as much as about $5,251. The same gain on a stock fund held over a year, at a 15% rate, would be about $2,813. A dealer usually pays somewhat less than spot, so the real gain, and the tax, would be smaller.

A loss. A neighbor bought 100 ounces of silver in January at $70 an ounce, $7,000. At Friday's $49.13 the bars are worth about $4,913. Sold now, that is a short-term loss of about $2,087, which can offset other gains or up to $3,000 of other income.

Assumptions: purchase prices are examples, not quotes; values use Friday's closing spot prices; the arithmetic is ours. A household's own bracket can put the collectibles rate below 28%.

If nothing is sold

Nothing is owed. A drop in the price is a loss on paper only, and so is a rise. The tax event is the sale.

The Texas rules

• No sales tax. "The sale of gold, silver, or numismatic coins or of platinum, gold, or silver bullion is exempted" from the state sales tax, under Tax Code 151.336. On a $20,000 purchase, an 8.25% rate would have been $1,650.
• Legal tender, as of September 1. Gold and silver coins and bars marked as the 2025 law requires are legal tender in Texas under House Bill 1056. The same section says a person "may not be required to offer or accept" them. The rest of the law, including an electronic payment system tied to the state's bullion depository, takes effect May 1, 2027.
• What it does not change. Spending a coin is still a disposal for federal purposes, and the state law does not change how the IRS taxes a sale.

Things to check before any sale

• The original receipt: the date and the price paid decide the gain, the loss and the clock.
• Whether the one-year mark has passed.
• The buyer's price per ounce against that day's spot price.
• Any coin bought as a collectible: its price may follow its rarity, not the metal.

This week's market numbers are in the Saturday recap.