BY JIMMY HAYES
Prior to the Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, no thought was given about sales taxes imposed upon any of the investments allowed to be placed into an IRA. The Wayfair Court ruled in a five to four decision that “physical presence was not necessary” in order to expose out of state, remote sellers to state laws requiring them to collect and remit sales taxes to the buyer’s state. Unfortunately, states interpreted the Court’s ruling to mean “you can tax anyone anywhere who sells anything.”
Consequently, a flood of state sales tax laws has begun in an effort to reach every conceivable transaction without regard to unintended consequences of which there are endless examples. One of the unintended consequences is the uncertainty placed upon those who purchase coins or bullion for inclusion into an IRA account. You would think that the point of delivery to a storage facility would automatically assure that sales tax could not be collected. However, since the interstate sales tax was never allowed before the Wayfair ruling, no legislative or regulatory language was ever written to specifically exclude sales taxes. Consequently, it is only probable, not certain, that an approved storage unit can receive approved IRA investments without a sales tax burden placed upon the facility if the owner resides in a state in which sales tax would be collected if shipped to the owner.