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What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:06 pm
by atrus138
If/when I need to sell my gold and silver, how can I calculate my gains or losses if I didn't realize I needed to know what I paid until recently? Should I just try to do my best guess?
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:35 pm
by dualstow
That's a good question. I know it's come up before, but I don't remember the answer.
Are you still in touch with the vendor(s)?
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 1:49 pm
by ochotona
Do you have a date? Approximately?
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:36 pm
by Kriegsspiel
If you know about when you bought it, you can check your bank records about that time and see if you can find the transaction.
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:18 pm
by Ad Orientem
Bank records are a good starting point and the business you bought it from might have records.
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:18 pm
by Reub
Make it up like the tax authorities do?
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 7:29 am
by atrus138
I've got some bank records - good advice. I can probably just use the charge, minus the sales tax, and divide by the spot price around the time to figure out the price per coin. I used to buy from the local coin shop, but realized that paying sales tax was essentially taking an immediate loss and have since switched to jmbullion.com, which does keep a record of what I paid. I guess the big idea is to get as close as possible, right? I mean there really isn't a way to prove what I paid. The coin shop did issue a receipt, but I never kept them, since I wasn't aware that I would have to report gains at the time.
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 8:23 am
by Xan
I think the IRS's official answer will be that if you can't prove what you paid, then your gain is your entire sales price. While you're right about the big idea being to get as close as possible, I would tread very carefully with that.
Re: What if you don't remember what you paid for bullion?
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:50 am
by Libertarian666
Xan wrote:
I think the IRS's official answer will be that if you can't prove what you paid, then your gain is your entire sales price. While you're right about the big idea being to get as close as possible, I would tread very carefully with that.
I don't believe that is correct. They have procedures for estimating the basis of something for which you don't have records. But in general, if you can get pretty close, and take the lower end of that, you should be okay, at least according to what my tax attorney told me they do.
Note: consult your own tax expert, etc.