TAX TALK

BY DAVID L. GANZ

Buying, selling, and trading coins and precious metals is more than a hobby in 2019; it’s a trillion-dollar business. With proper investment, it’s also a way to amass wealth and build a nest egg to help make your retirement more comfortable, perhaps by providing gold, quite literally, to see you through your golden years.

Buying coins wisely, though, is only half the battle. It also may be advisable to take steps to safeguard your investment against the hazards that threaten that store of wealth and put that nest egg in jeopardy. Needlessly high tax payments and costly divorce settlements, for example, could seriously erode the net gain you realize from your coins.

Unless you act preemptively to shield your numismatic holdings through prudent legal and tax planning, you – or your heirs – could see much of their value end up in the hands of the taxman, or perhaps a significant other who’s leaving your relationship with something far more substantial than “parting gifts.” Whether you contemplate selling, trading, or otherwise disposing of your coins yourself or passing them to your heirs upon your death, there are important legal and tax decisions to be considered – decisions that will have major implications when the day of reckoning arrives.

As a practicing attorney for more than 35 years with extensive experience in the field of collectibles, I have helped many clients devise protective strategies – plans of action that are perfectly legal and entirely credible – to reduce the risks that may cloud the disposition of their holdings. I’ve also pointed out ways they can minimize the tax obligations associated with the acquisition, maintenance, and disposition of a collection. And I’ve shown how to help assure financial privacy.