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The Federal Tax Service sends for information and for use in work a letter from the Department of Tax Policy of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated 03.12.2020 No. 03-04-07/105912 regarding the issue of taxation of income of individuals when selling investment coins made of precious metals.

Bring this letter to the notice of lower tax authorities.

The Department of Tax Policy has reviewed the letter on the taxation of individuals’ income when selling investment coins made of precious metals and informs the following.

In accordance with subparagraph 2 of paragraph 1, paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 228 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Code), individuals who receive income from sale of property belonging to these persons on the right of ownership, and property rights, except for cases specified in paragraph 17.1 of article 217 of the Code, when such income is not subject to taxation, shall calculate on their own the amount of tax to be paid to the relevant budget and submit a tax return to the tax authority at the place of their tax registration.

Pursuant to paragraph 17.1 of article 217 of the Code, the income earned by individuals during the relevant tax period from sale of other property owned by the taxpayer for three years or more is not subjected to tax.

In accordance with subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1 and subparagraph 1 of paragraph 2 of article 220 of the Code, when determining the amount of the personal income tax base under paragraph 3 of article 210 of the Code, the taxpayer is entitled to obtain a property tax deduction, in particular, in the amount of income received by the taxpayer in the tax period from the sale of other property (except for securities) owned by the taxpayer for less than three years, not exceeding the total of 250,000 rubles.

In this case, instead of obtaining a property tax deduction, the taxpayer has the right to reduce the amount of his taxable income by the amount of the actual expenses incurred by him and documented expenses related to the acquisition of this property (subparagraph 2 of paragraph 2 of article 220 of the Code).

Therefore, when selling investment coins made of precious metals, the corresponding income is either non-taxable or, when determining the tax base, the taxpayer has the right to reduce the amount of income received by the amount of the property tax deduction or by the amount of documented expenses for the purchase of sold investment coins from precious metals.