James:
Bill in North Idaho’s letter intrigued me, so I did some digging and thought you would be interested in what I found. The FinCEN FAQ is pretty clear that the requirements of being a ‘dealer’ only applies if you buy and sell more then $50,000 in one calendar year/tax year, so if you’re buying up bullion and not selling it (i.e. hoarding it) you don’t count as a ‘dealer’ so this specific ruling doesn’t touch you. What it does do, is make most people selling lots of gold/silver/jewels into ‘dealers’ which means they file IRS form 8300 and report it if a transaction is over $10,000 or they believe that multiple transactions to one person will equal $10,000. Under my reading of this, you can get around being on file somewhere by doing one of three things:
1) Don’t Buy From A ‘dealer’ Part I: ‘retailers’ are not always ‘dealers’ under this language (if they buy from US sources they’re probably not), so ask where you buy if they comply with the FinCEN Anti Money Laundering rules. Note that this will probably raise more alarm bells than SurvivalBlog readers would like and might get your name on a ‘suspicious transaction’ form.
2) Don’t Buy From A ‘dealer’ Part II: Private individuals who do less than $50,000 a year don’t count, so find a like-minded individual and buy from him/her.
3) Do It Slowly. Even under this ruling, buying from a ‘dealer’ your name shouldn’t go on a federal form unless you break $10k in one day. Spread out your purchasing to multiple stores over a period and don’t buy from one store too often. Don’t let them take your name/info and if they ask, don’t go back.
This should, by my reading, keep your name off of any government forms. I don’t even know who you would ask for a ‘professional’ opinion, maybe a tax lawyer, but I’m certainly not one.
Letter Re: New FINCEN Regulation on Precious Metals/Gemstones Transaction Reporting
