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Reverse charge for valuable metals

Reverse charge GST applies to all business-to-business taxable supplies of gold, silver or platinum.

Last updated 28 July 2026

Why does the reverse charge exist for valuable metals?

The reverse charge protects the integrity of the GST system to reduce the risk of GST fraud in the gold, silver and platinum industry. The reverse charge makes the purchaser responsible for remitting GST, instead of the supplier. This reduces the risk of purchasers making GST refund fraud attempts and prevents suppliers from avoiding payment of GST to the Commissioner of Taxation.

How the reverse charge applies to valuable metals

A mandatory reverse charge applies to business-to-business transactions involving goods consisting wholly or partly of valuable metals. This applies to sales by GST-registered suppliers to GST-registered purchasers of all taxable supplies of goods containing gold, silver or platinum.

Note: The reverse charge is not applicable when you are buying and selling to customers who are not carrying on a business, such as individuals and non-business entities. In these situations, the normal GST rules apply.

What the reverse charge means

What the reverse charge means and how it applies.

Determining whether the reverse charge applies to individual products

How to determine whether the reverse charge applies.

Sales covered by a reverse charge

Sales covered by a reverse charge and definitions of precious and valuable metal.

Examples of reverse charge

See examples of when reverse charge applies.

Second-hand goods

How we define second-hand goods and how to apply the threshold test and collectable or antique test.

Record keeping requirements

What records you need to keep for the GST reverse charge.

Voluntary reverse charge agreement for sales between 1 January – 31 March 2017

The interim VRC arrangement applied to VRC transactions entered into between 1 January 2017 – 31 March 2017.

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