VIA MAT Policy Change Doesn’t Affect BullionVault And GoldMoney Customers With U.S. Tax Liabilities

On February 22, 2013, the following appeared on SilverDoctors.com:

ViaMat, one of the world’s leading precious metals storage firms (used by BullionVault & GoldMoney as primary storage provider) has just notified US customers that effective April 30th 2013, it will discontinue private storage of precious metals for all clients with a US tax liability. Clients have until April 30th to notify Via Mat International where they would like their physical bullion dispatched to.

And from The Daily Reckoning website on March 5:

An article on this subject said:

“For one, the big gold depositories like Gold Money and Bullion Vault ALL use Via Mat as a primary secure storage provider. So it’s only a matter of time before Via Mat’s decision cascades across these other firms.”

We believe that neither BullionVault nor GoldMoney will see “Via Mat’s decision cascade across these other firms.” Neither company faces U.S. taxation nor are they in U.S. jurisdiction. They are gold dealers who buy and sell gold for their clients for cash and house the gold in Via Mat’s vaults.

As Survival And Prosperity participates in affiliate programs offered by both BullionVault and GoldMoney, I decided I’d better contact both companies to make sure my referrals/their customers with U.S. tax liabilities won’t be affected by VIA MAT’s recent policy change.

Here’s what I received from GoldMoney this Monday:

Dear Mr. Hill,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and to express your concerns.

We are aware of VIA MAT’s change of policy regarding individuals with potential US tax liabilities.

However, please be advised that this does not impact GoldMoney customers since you do not have a direct relationship with VIA MAT when you store metals at VIA MAT vaults with GoldMoney.

For more information, please see the following FAQ:

http://www.goldmoney.com/faq/are-us-residents-allowed-to-hold-metal-with-goldmoney-at-via-mat-vaults.html

And from BullionVault Tuesday morning:

Dear Mr.Hill,

Thank you for your email. BullionVault is a commercial client of ViaMat. The letter posted and referred to on the internet last month says that the decision applies to ViaMat’s own US private clients. ViaMat has confirmed to BullionVault in writing that it has “no impact whatsoever” on the services they provide to us.

So there you have it. BullionVault and GoldMoney customers with U.S. tax liabilities won’t be affected by VIA MAT’s recent change in policy.

Special thanks go out to GoldMoney’s Toni Sty and BullionVault’s Adrian Ash for helping me get to the bottom of this.

By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (www.survivalandprosperity.com)

Sources:

The Doc. “LEADING GOLD STORAGE FIRM VIAMAT DUMPS ALL US CLIENTS.” SilverDoctors.com. 22 Feb. 2013. (http://www.silverdoctors.com/leading-gold-storage-firm-viamat-dumps-all-us-clients/). 7 Mar. 2013.

“Where To Go as Swiss are Shutting Out U.S. Taxpayers.” The Daily Reckoning. 5 Mar. 2013. (http://dailyreckoning.com/where-to-go-as-swiss-are-shutting-out-u-s-taxpayers/). 7 Mar. 2013.