How is import VAT treated on investment gold entering the EU?

Rule lines

import VAT

0% — article 346 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC exempts the importation of investment gold, in every member state.

investment gold

Article 344(1)(1): a bar or wafer of a weight accepted by the bullion markets, of purity 995 thousandths or greater.

not

below 995‰ unwrought gold, silver bars, platinum, and gold scrap. None of these meet article 344, so none of them are exempt.

outside the exemption

Standard-rate import VAT is due, on the customs value plus duty and other import charges, in the member state of clearance.

standard rates

NL 21%, BE 21%, FR 20%, DE 19%, IT 22%. These are the rates that apply once a Chapter 71 shipment falls outside article 344.

member state matters

NL, BE and FR let a registered importer account for import VAT on the periodic return, at no cash cost at the border. DE generally requires payment upfront at clearance.

Every line above was verified on 2026-09-07. VAT rates and postponed-accounting rules move; the date is part of the rule.

Why there is no member-state variation, for a qualifying bar

Article 346 is written as a mandatory exemption, not an option. “Member States shall exempt” leaves no room for a country to charge import VAT on investment gold anyway.

That is unlike ordinary standard-rate VAT, which is set by each member state and varies from 19% to 22% across the corridors this library covers.

A bar that meets article 344 clears free of import VAT whether the entry point is Rotterdam, Antwerp, Frankfurt or Paris.

The moment the exemption stops

Article 344 sets a purity floor of 995‰ for bars and wafers. Doré gold below that purity, silver, platinum and gold scrap all sit outside it.

None of those goods have an equivalent exemption anywhere in the VAT Directive. Standard-rate import VAT applies, calculated on customs value plus duty.

A trader who assumes any bullion-grade metal is VAT-exempt the way gold is has misread article 344, and the bill lands at customs.

The member state of clearance decides the rate and the financing

Once goods fall outside article 344, the applicable VAT rate is whichever member state clears the import, from 19% in Germany to 22% in Italy.

Netherlands, Belgium and France let a registered importer defer that VAT to the periodic return, so no cash leaves the business at the border.

Germany generally requires payment upfront at clearance. Routing a non-exempt shipment through the wrong port is a landed-cost decision, not a formality.

What this page did not check

• 01The exact Italian statutory mechanism for deferring import VAT. It was not confirmed against a primary Agenzia delle Entrate or Agenzia delle Dogane source.
• 02Whether investment gold also carries a 0% customs duty under CN 7108, separate from the VAT question answered here. Customs duty was not checked for this page.
• 03The full text of articles 347 to 356, covering the taxation option available to regulated bullion-market members. Only articles 344, 345, 346 and 143 were read in full.
• 04The exact date and legal basis of Germany's historical reduced VAT rate on silver bullion. Only secondary bullion-dealer sources described it, and it is not stated as a rule line above.

Sources

• Council Directive 2006/112/EC, article 344 — definition of investment gold

  Verbatim text of the bar/wafer and coin tests, read 2026-09-07

• Council Directive 2006/112/EC, article 346 — the exemption

  Import, supply and intra-Community acquisition of investment gold, quoted below, read 2026-09-07

• Belastingdienst (Netherlands) — reverse-charge mechanism on import, article 23

  Postponed accounting for import VAT, no fiscal representative required for the goods to move, read 2026-09-07

• VATcalc — import VAT, avoid payment via postponed VAT accounting

  Belgium ET 14.000 licence and Germany's lack of a full postponed-accounting system, read 2026-09-07