Buying Gold Bars in the UK: Sizes, VAT and Resale

A gold bar looks like the sensible choice. No design premium, no collector market, no fuss: just metal, stamped with its weight. That reputation is mostly deserved, and it is also the reason a lot of British buyers end up paying more per gram than they needed to.

The gap between the bar people imagine and the bar they can actually buy is wide. Most of what you will find on a UK dealer's shelf is a small minted bar of a few grams, not the brick from a heist film. Those small bars behave quite differently on price, and they sit on the wrong side of one tax rule that a British coin clears without trying.

Five things worth knowing before you buy

• Fineness is the legal line. HMRC treats gold of at least 995 thousandths, in a bar or wafer of a weight the bullion markets accept, as investment gold. That is what makes it VAT-exempt.
• The saving from going bigger is real but front-loaded. Across one bar range on our own list, the step from 1 g to 10 g saves far more per gram than the step from 10 g to an ounce.
• At small sizes, coins compete. On the same day, our tenth-ounce gold Britannia cost less per gram of gold than our five-gram bar.
• A bar is not currency. Britannias and Sovereigns minted in 1837 or later are sterling, and sterling is outside Capital Gains Tax. A bar is not.
• Resale is about paperwork. Sealed packaging, a matching serial and a refiner the dealer knows are what make a bar easy to sell. Breaking the seal costs you nothing in metal and something in convenience.

What actually counts as a gold bar

Two things separate a bullion bar from a piece of gold jewellery: purity and a stamp that says so. Beyond that, bars split into two families.

Cast and minted

Cast bars are poured into a mould. The surface is uneven and the edges are rounded. They are cheaper to make, so they usually carry a smaller premium, and they are the normal format at larger weights.

Minted bars are cut from a rolled sheet and struck. The faces are flat, the edges are square, and they are usually sold sealed in a card or capsule. Almost every small bar you will see in the UK is a minted bar, and almost all of the range we carry, from one gram to one ounce, is minted.

Good Delivery is not what you are buying

The phrase "London Good Delivery" gets used loosely in retail listings. It has a precise meaning. The LBMA specification requires a gold bar of 350 to 430 fine troy ounces, roughly 10.9 to 13.4 kilograms, at a minimum fineness of 995.0, carrying a serial number, the refiner's stamp, the fineness to four figures and the month and year of manufacture.

That is a wholesale settlement bar weighing about as much as a bag of cement. No retail buyer holds one. What matters to you is the standard behind it: the same refiner accreditation and the same marking discipline flow down to the small bars.

What each size actually costs per gram

The received wisdom is that bigger is cheaper per gram. It is true, and it is not linear, because most of what you pay above the metal is fabrication and handling, and those costs attach to the bar rather than to the gram.

Read the shape rather than the numbers. Going from one gram to ten grams removes most of the penalty. Going from ten grams to an ounce removes very little. If your budget lands between those two points, the extra outlay buys you a smaller improvement than you might expect.

Bar or coin?

This is where the reasoning most people bring to the shop quietly breaks down. Bars are supposed to be the cheap way in. At the sizes British buyers actually spend at, that is not reliably true.

The coin also brings something the bar cannot. A Britannia is legal tender in the United Kingdom, which puts it outside Capital Gains Tax entirely. That is not a marketing claim, it is a consequence of the coin being sterling.

If that comparison is the one you are actually stuck on, our Britannia against Sovereign guide covers the coin side in detail, and physical gold against gold ETFs covers the step before it.

VAT and Capital Gains Tax on bars

VAT. HMRC defines investment gold as gold of a purity not less than 995 thousandths in the form of a bar or wafer of a weight accepted by the bullion markets. Supplies of investment gold are exempt from VAT, subject to an option to tax that applies to producers and industrial suppliers rather than to you. In practice, a 999.9 retail bar from an established refiner is investment gold.

Capital Gains Tax. HMRC's Capital Gains Manual is explicit that Sovereigns minted in 1837 and later, and Britannia gold coins, are currency and, like all sterling currency, are exempt under section 21(1)(b) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. A gold bar is not sterling currency. A gain on a bar is therefore chargeable once you exceed the annual exempt amount, which stands at £3,000 for individuals, with rates of 18 per cent within the basic rate band and 24 per cent above it, both re-checked on GOV.UK on 9 September 2026.

None of that makes a bar a bad purchase. It makes the coin worth a second look if you expect to build a position large enough for the allowance to matter. Our wider guide to gold investment in the UK works through both taxes in more depth.

Five mistakes we see

1. Buying by headline weight rather than cost per gram. The number on the bar is not the number that decides value for money.
2. Breaking the seal to have a look. The metal is unchanged. The ease of selling it is not. Leave sealed bars sealed.
3. Assuming any bar is as good as any other at resale. A dealer who does not recognise the refiner will either discount or decline. Ask which brands your dealer buys back before you buy, not after.
4. Buying one large bar as an entire holding. You cannot sell a third of a bar. If you may need part of the money back, several smaller units beat one big one, even at a higher cost per gram.
5. Treating "VAT-free" as "tax-free". They are two separate rules answering two different questions, and a bar passes one and not the other.

Who should buy a bar, and who should not

A bar suits you if

• You are buying an ounce or more in a single unit and want the lowest cost per gram.
• You are holding for the long term and do not expect to sell in pieces.
• Your expected gains sit comfortably inside the annual exempt amount, or the tax position is not your deciding factor.
• You are content to keep sealed packaging intact and stored properly for years.

A bar is the wrong buy if

• You are spending a few hundred pounds. At that level a fractional Britannia usually gives you more gold for the money and a better tax position.
• You want to sell gradually. Bars are poor at partial exits.
• You want something to hand on or give. A coin carries a design, a date and a story that a stamped rectangle does not.
• You are buying mainly for the object. Licensed and collectable bars are lovely, and they carry a premium that has nothing to do with the gold, which you may not get back.

Storing and selling a bar

A bar is small, valuable and anonymous, which is a difficult combination at home. Household insurance usually caps unspecified valuables at a low figure, and a bar in a drawer is not covered by anything. The trade-offs are set out in our guide to home storage against vaulting, and if you would rather it sat in insured professional storage, that is what our vaulting service is for.

Getting it there is its own problem, and a larger one than most owners expect. Contents cover usually stops at the front door and postal compensation is capped at a fixed figure regardless of what you send. Our guide to transporting gold to a vault sets out what each route actually covers, what a facility will accept, and the option that removes the journey altogether.

Selling is simpler than most people expect and slower than they hope. A dealer will check the stamps, weigh the bar, confirm the packaging and serial agree, and make an offer against the prevailing spot price less a margin. Sealed bars from recognised refiners clear fastest. We publish our buy rates on the sell gold or silver page, so you can see the spread before you commit rather than after.

If you are still weighing which metal to start with, gold against silver covers the VAT difference that separates them, which is larger than most people expect.

Frequently asked questions

Are gold bars VAT free in the UK?

Gold bars that meet HMRC's investment gold definition are exempt from VAT. That means gold of at least 995 thousandths fineness, in a bar or wafer of a weight the bullion markets accept. A 999.9 retail bar from an established refiner qualifies. Silver bullion does not, and attracts VAT at the standard rate.

Do you pay Capital Gains Tax on gold bars in the UK?

Yes, potentially. A gold bar is not sterling currency, so a gain on it is a chargeable gain once your total gains exceed the annual exempt amount, which is £3,000 for individuals as at 9 September 2026. Britannias and Sovereigns minted in 1837 or later are exempt because they are sterling. This is general information, not personal tax advice.

What size gold bar should I buy?

The cost per gram improves sharply up to about ten grams and only slightly beyond that. Below a quarter of an ounce, compare a fractional Britannia before committing to a bar. Above an ounce, buy the largest single unit you would still be comfortable selling whole.

Are gold bars cheaper than gold coins?

Per gram, usually at one ounce and above. Not reliably below that. On our own list on 9 September 2026, a tenth-ounce gold Britannia cost less per gram of gold than a five-gram bar. Ratios move with the market, so check on the day rather than assuming.

Should I buy a one-kilogram gold bar?

For most private buyers, no. You cannot sell part of it, the pool of buyers for a single unit that size is smaller, and the improvement in cost per gram over an ounce bar is modest. Yard Mint does not currently stock kilogram bars.

How can I tell a gold bar is genuine?

Check that the fineness, weight, refiner mark and serial number are all present and legible, that the serial on the bar matches the packaging, and that the seal is intact. None of this is proof on its own. If you have any doubt, buy from a dealer who will stand behind the sale and take it back.

Can I sell a gold bar back in the UK?

Yes. Any established UK dealer will buy investment gold bars, and a sealed bar from a recognised refiner is the easiest thing in the shop to price. Expect an offer against spot less a margin. Our published buy rates are on the sell gold or silver page.