Tax on Gold? New WA State Bullion Tax Passes

Starting in 2026, WA state residents could be paying sales tax on gold, silver, and coins – due to a new bill that recently passed the Washington State legislature.

Currently, bullion is exempt from retail sales tax. But SB5794, a broad bill that recently passed both houses of Washington’s legislature, is set to change that.

If nothing changes, gold could soon be taxed at up to around 10% – meaning that $3,300 ounce of gold could soon cost you over $3,600!

Here’s what you need to know.

ACT NOW to Prevent New Gold Tax in Washington State

If you are a Washington State resident, the best thing you can do is contact the governor’s office to voice your opinion about these tax changes. Urge Gov. Ferguson to line-item veto the section in SB5794 that imposes sales tax on gold and silver.

This would allow the governor to keep most of the bill intact, while retaining the current exemption for bullion sales.

You can also contact your state and local representatives to ensure your voice is heard!

New Washington Bill Repeals Bullion Sales Tax Exemption

Currently, sales tax applies to most purchases – but bullion, like gold and silver coins and bars, has long been excluded. This means that you can buy bullion with no sales tax.

However, SB5794 completely revokes that sales tax exemption (and makes many other changes to Washington’s sales tax exemptions, as well).

The full text of the bill is available online, but here are some of the most important excepts:

Summary of Engrossed First Substitute Bill: Tax Preference Repeals.
Beginning January 1, 2026, the following tax preferences are repealed or sunset:
• interest on real estate loans B&O tax deduction;
• prescription drug resellers preferential B&O tax rate;
insurance producers, title insurance agents, and surplus line brokers preferential B&O
tax rate;
• precious metals and bullion B&O and sales and use tax exemptions;
• home energy assistance PUT credit;
• dentistry prepayments insurance premiums tax exemption;
• international investment management services preferential B&O tax rate;
• international services B&O tax credit; and
• international banking facilities B&O tax exemption.

This is a repeal of a “tax preference”, or exemption, and it’s set to take effect at the start of 2026.

The bill fully passed both chambers of the legislature and has been signed by the governor, as of late April, 2025.

Why Did The Law Change?

The bill had this to say about the reasoning behind the change:

Precious Metals and Bullion Tax Exemptions. Sales of precious metals and monetized
bullion are exempt from B&O and sales and use taxes. Bullion dealers are subject to B&O
tax under the service classification on amounts received in commissions for buying and
selling bullions on behalf of customers.

In 2024, JLARC reviewed the tax preference and recommended that the Legislature should
determine whether to continue the exemption for sales of precious metals and monetized
bullion. The report noted that the preference may not be achieving the inferred public
policy objective of making Washington coin and bullion dealers more competitive with out of-state
competitors by treating precious metal and bullion sales like sales of investments rather than sales of tangible personal property.

So essentially, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) had recommended that the legislature review the WA bullion sales tax exemption to make sure it was meeting policy goals (namely, keeping WA coin and bullion dealers competitive with out-of-state competitors). The report implies that the legislative review process found that the sales tax exemption “may not be achieving” the policy goal, but didn’t elaborate further.

Reading Between the Lines: Washington’s Budget Shortfall

The Washington State Legislature is scrambling to fill an estimated $15 billion budget shortfall over the next 4 years. As a part of this process, the legislature is surely looking at ways to implement new taxes — or in this case, repeal an existing tax “preference” or exemption.

It’s likely that this WA bullion sales tax change is a result of this process.

What is the New Washington State Bullion Sales Tax?

Unless further exemptions are made, the new WA bullion sales tax rate is likely to be the standard sales tax rate. This is currently 6.5% on a state level, plus 2-3%+ on a city level.

For example, in the city of Seattle, the total sales tax is 8.8%.

So, Washington State Residents could soon be paying nearly 10% in sales tax on gold, silver, and coins. Given that an ounce of gold is currently around $3,300, that’s around $300 of sales tax on the purchase of a single ounce of gold.

Remember – these changes won’t take effect until January 1st, 2026. And there may be changes between now and then.