Inherited gold or silver? – Here's what you can do

It’s not uncommon for various forms of gold or silver to be part of an estate. Often there may be gold rings, gold or silver jewelry, gold necklaces, and possibly silver cutlery. Sometimes there’s also investment gold in the form of gold bars or coins.

What should you consider if there’s gold or silver in the inheritance, especially regarding taxation, and what are the different options? We’ll go through this in this article.

How do you handle gold and silver in an estate?

The first question that may arise is – what do you do with the silver and gold in an estate? When someone dies, the so-called estate administrators or an estate distributor must make a written summary of assets and liabilities in an inventory of the estate.

If it’s a married couple and there’s marital property, a division of property must also be done. Finally, the estate is distributed after the debts are deducted through the inheritance distribution.

The value of silver and gold must be divided

If there’s a will specifying who should inherit gold or silver items, it must be respected. Otherwise, gold and silver count as assets. Like other property, they must be valued to get a figure to calculate. The market value applies, not the purchase price or any previous valuation.

If you agree on the value, it’s simple. A tip is to value jewelry and gold online for free to get an approximate value. There is no legal requirement to hire external expertise, although you can, of course, have the gold or silver valued by a goldsmith as well.

Consider hiring an estate distributor

If you find it difficult to agree, our recommendation is to hire an estate distributor. He or she knows how to value the gold and silver, does the whole job, and you avoid disputes.

In the inheritance distribution, the assets are then distributed so that each of the heirs receives their share of the inheritance. If there’s a will, it applies, but legal heirs always have the right to their statutory share.

The value is the starting point in the distribution, not everyone gets a share of the same things. For example, you can decide that you get the deceased’s gold jewelry and silver cutlery while your brother gets paintings and furniture of equivalent value.

Keeping inherited gold or silver?

If you’ve inherited gold or silver after the inheritance distribution, the next question is what you should do with it. Often, these types of items have sentimental value in addition to the market value. It could be the deceased’s wedding ring, a cross, or perhaps coins from a collection, things that remind you of the deceased.

Most people who sell gold have inherited it. But think carefully about whether it’s worth selling such an item for, say, a market value of 5000 kronor now. Will you regret it in 10 or 20 years? Once you’ve sold it, you can’t change your mind.

One possibility if you’re uncertain is to keep the items and consider them an alternative investment. Store them in a safe place. Should there be tougher economic times in the future, you have extra security in, for example, the gold you’ve saved.

Sell or recycle?

If you choose to sell the gold or silver, you can do so via a reseller like Tavex – either in-store or via insured mail delivery (gold envelope). Then you get a fair valuation and paid directly.

An alternative is to have a new piece of jewelry made by melting down the precious metal at a goldsmith. This can be a good option if you feel that you want to keep a memory while finding a practical use for it but maybe don’t want to wear great-grandmother’s wedding ring.

Do you have to pay tax?

No. Since January 1, 2004, there is no inheritance tax in Sweden anymore. This also applies to gold and silver. For example, if you inherit a gold ring and sell it directly, you get to keep the money.

However, if you choose to keep the ring and sell it after a period of rising gold prices, you have to pay capital gains tax on the profit. For this reason, it’s good to have the estate inventory at hand so that you have a basis to go from when you declare your sale.

Feel free to tell us in the comments below how you think about precious metals when they are part of an inheritance!