10 million in gold coins

[Bugsinrugs]

I did a search and could not find any thread on this. Heck, could be my neighbors . I am going to go dig a few holes on my property today.Black Bart? Jesse James? Who hid $10 million worth of gold? - SFGate

[varmint]

they should have dug it up, and driven to a relatives property in a lower tax state before "finding" it.

[javadog]

They should have kept their discovery to themselves and traded the coins one at a time for coins of lesser individual values.

But hey, they didn't.

JR

[Bugsinrugs]

Between state and federal taxes it's going to take almost half.

[tadink]

and they are going to have to pay >50% tax on FOUND money - because they are in CA.

and the internet is in an uproar.

uh, what about the people that actually WORK for their income, and have to pay over HALF in taxes? Where's the outrage in THAT!?

sigh.

rant over.

td

[craigster59]

Good for them. From what I've read in other reports, they had spotted an old marker can near an Oak tree that they thought had been buried to hold flowers for a buried pet. Until another can surfaced from beneath that held the coins.

They dug up the stash and placed it into a cooler that they buried under their woodpile until they figured out what to do.

Again, I say good for them. Richer now, and so much cooler than getting rich through Lotto/Powerball.

[Rick Lee]

I think I read that it's taxable in the year it was found, which was 2012, which means they're gonna be in some hot water and will need to sell them very fast to pay that tax bill. I also would have kept totally quiet about it and sold one at a time, as I needed money or traded for other things of value.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by javadog

They should have kept their discovery to themselves and traded the coins one at a time for coins of lesser individual values.

But hey, they didn't.

JR

Thats exactly what I did when I found ... agh....nothing, I found nothing...

[MRM]

The face value is taxible in the year they found it but the Collector value is not taxible until they sell them. If they hold on to them for more than a year the difference between face value and the collector/sale value might be characterized as capital gains. I'd try it if I were them.

[nota]

Originally Posted by MRM

The face value is taxible in the year they found it but the Collector value is not taxible until they sell them. If they hold on to them for more than a year the difference between face value and the collector/sale value might be characterized as capital gains. I'd try it if I were them.

real tax rates are FAR different then the far right claims
15% VS 50%

[masraum]

I've read a few articles about this. Pretty amazing. I think that I would want to keep some of the find, and wouldn't have let the cat out of the bag. I guess they really didn't. The most recent article that I saw said that the found the coins Feb of 2013, and we are just hearing about them now. Another thing that the most recent article said was that they'll be paying 39.6% federal taxes and 13.3% statd texes, but since you get to write off some of your state taxes, they'll only end up paying about 47% total. That's still a pretty good haul, but they have to pay that by this April 15.

Seems so much better to have held on to them and slowly trickled them into the market, but even then, if you sell a coin worth a million bucks, that's probably hard to hide.

[aigel]

Good problem to have. I'd be happy to pay $5 mil in taxes and keep $5 mil. That said, the last thing that would come to my mind is to liquidate and publicize.

G

[Bugsinrugs]

New article today. This could get interesting.
SF heist at turn of century may explain buried gold - Tom Stienstra's Outdoors

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

I did a search and could not find any thread on this. Heck, could be my neighbors . I am going to go dig a few holes on my property today.Black Bart? Jesse James? Who hid $10 million worth of gold? - SFGate

The couple who found the stash while walking their dog in February 2013 said in a taped interview with Kagin that there was "an unusual angular rock up the hill from where the coins were buried."

"It wasn't until we made the find that we realized it might have been a marker," said the woman. "Starting at the rock, if you walk 10 paces toward the North Star, you wind up smack in the middle of the coins."

I have to get a dog now.

[rusnak]

The U.S. gov't is going to take all of it, and the owners of the property who found the coins will get nothing.

[look 171]

What if they dug it up in Canada, what's the tax like there? How about places like England or France, Germany or Norway?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by look 171

What if they dug it up in Canada, what's the tax like there? How about places like England or France, Germany or Norway?

I can tell you that using a metal detector in England to look for old stuff is very common which is not surprising since there is so much history there.

In England, if you find something old and potentially valuable, there is a govt department that you notify. They have smart folks check the stuff out. If it's deemed historically significant, they keep it, but they pay you a fair price. Often, folks will find stuff on someone else's property and they'll end up splitting the money with the property owner. I've read several articles on the BBC website about folks finding various treasures and getting paid pretty hefty sums. I suspect it may get taxed as well. That's never mentioned.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by look 171

What if they dug it up in Canada, what's the tax like there? How about places like England or France, Germany or Norway?

In Germany state law determines what happens to "treasures". Treasures are found items that have been lost for so long that the owner can no longer be determined. In most states 100% of the treasure goes to the state. You will get a warm handshake for reporting it.

G

[Rick Lee]

In that case, why would anyone report any kind of find?

[recycled sixtie]

It would be tempting to melt it down and make my own generic looking gold bars. Sell them on ebay when I needed the money. There is probably some obscure law against it. Keep the govt. out of it!?! I pay enough taxes.
G.