Buy platinum as an investment

The precious metal platinum, whose name is derived from the Spanish term "platina", was discovered and processed in ancient Egypt. Today, the white precious metal is more in demand than ever and is a popular alternative to gold and silver, which is often used to diversify a precious metal investment.

What makes platinum valuable?

Many people are unaware that platinum is around 30 times rarer than gold. It is therefore one of the rarer investment precious metals. However, if you take a look at international trade, you quickly realize that gold remains the undisputed leader among precious metals.

Nevertheless, platinum is currently in greater demand than it has been for a long time, and rightly so. This is because the price of platinum depends not only on demand as an investment metal, but above all on its importance as a raw material for industry. The current popularity of platinum as a material in the jewelry industry also plays a major role.

Platinum investment: Buying coins & bars as an investment?

Physical platinum is an excellent way to diversify your precious metal portfolio. If you would like to buy platinum as an investment, you can choose between bars or bullion coins.

Investment platinum, i.e. bars as well as coins, is usually made of pure platinum with a fineness of 999.5/1000. There are now platinum versions of almost all famous investment coins: The Austrian Mint, for example, has also been issuing the popular Vienna Philharmonic in platinum since 2016.

In addition to the platinum philharmonic, the Canadian platinum Maple Leaf, the Australian platinum Koala coin and the American platinum Eagle are popular platinum investments.
But what exactly is the difference between platinum bars and coins as an investment? Bullion coins are generally traded close to their material value. Nevertheless, there are also rarer platinum coins, such as the Chinese platinum panda coins, which are highly sought after by collectors because of their variety of motifs, rarity and year of issue. Over time, such a coin can become a collector's item and increase in value accordingly.

In contrast, platinum bars are more of a practical investment and are generally cheaper to buy than coins. There are also special shapes such as slab bars. We always recommend only buying platinum bars from good delivery production from LPPM-certified refineries.

When deciding whether to buy platinum coins or platinum bars, the tax situation also plays a role.

Value-added tax: platinum not tax-free

Unlike gold, platinum is not exempt from VAT. When buying platinum, VAT of 20% must therefore be paid. This is a very relevant aspect for investors, as the increase in value must be more than 20% in order to make a return.

However, there is an interesting form of alternative taxation other than the usual VAT: differential taxation. For products for which full VAT has already been paid on the first sale, VAT only has to be paid on the difference between the purchase price and the sales price on resale. This is intended to prevent resold goods from being subject to the full VAT again. However, such differential taxation is generally only possible for platinum coins.

This means that it is often possible to purchase platinum coins from precious metal dealers with differential taxation and thus save a portion of the value added tax.

For white metals such as silver, platinum or palladium, which are all subject to VAT, there is also the option of storing them in duty-free warehouses. As long as the goods remain in the bonded warehouse, VAT can be legally avoided. In addition, bonded warehouses are professionally secured and usually include insurance for the goods.

Realistically, however, a duty-free warehouse is only suitable for large investors, as there is often a minimum lower limit for the investment amount. In addition, the accessibility and availability of your own investment is of course problematic. We always recommend that our customers buy precious metals in physical form so that they always have immediate access to them.